January 2023 Newsletter
| The biggest and most unbelievable news from 2022 was the fact that in just one year, we raised $101,102 for NTS. This project, now going into its second year, created astounding interest and monetary contributions. The money is used to sustain the food pantry we began in January of last year. The need for food for retired and active military families continues to soar. This initiative has exceeded our wildest expectations. It’s a national shame that the military personnel are experiencing this deficit, and we are very proud to be making a dent in our own community. This month we received donations from the following: Tunnels 2 Towers Foundation $1000 VA NYC Metro CVEB Army Week Association $1000. We thank both for their generous support. PLEASE CONTACT MICHELE FOR SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES. LOCATED ON FORT WADSWORTH WITH VOLUNTEERS FROM BLUE STAR FAMILIES, THIS SITE IS OPEN TWICE A MONTH.  WE ARE LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS WHO ARE INTERESTED IN PLAYING AN INTEGRAL ROLE WITH OUR IN PERSON, AFTER SCHOOL READING PROGRAM AS WE LOOK TO EXPAND IT FOR THE 2023-2024 SCHOOL YEAR. PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU WOULD LIKE MORE INFORMATION ON HOW YOU CAN PARTICIPATE.  Lillian Escobar will be joining our Executive Committee. Lillian brings so much to the table. She just retired as a CPA and is bi-lingual which is very helpful to us especially now. She also volunteers with her sister with several community service organizations.  Lillian joins our already stellar Executive Committee; Kathy Barzal,School Liasion Stacy Berthelon, Fundraising Carol Crocitto, Food Insecurity Evelyn Kormanik, Community Garden Laura Lipkin, Grant writing, Charlotte Sciarrino, Literacy Pat Schwimer, Roving Speakers Help us build our following on social media. If you are on Facebook, please like and follow the Staten Island Giving Circle page. If we post something please share it to your personal page. To kick us off we are giving away (one) $100 Staples gift card to a local teacher. It’s very simple: Like and follow our page Nominate a teacher in the comments with their name and #school. A winner will be selected at random on February 6th. The winning tickets were purchased by Laura Lipkin and Carmine Feola. Laura chose Tunnels to Towers and Carmine selected Baking Memories 4 Kids. click for more info Each will receive $210. The winner(s) donates to his/her favorite charity; it is not kept by the ticket holder.  To participate, go to our website and donate via PayPal or Venmo using @StatenIslandGIvingCircle. We suggest $60 (for six months or $120 for the year).  Additional financial support we received this month: Nancy Schulhoff and Peter Damiani donated $1200 to our general fund to use as needed. Bozo’s Army and Navy Store has donated $400 for Nourish the Service from customer donations collected onsite.  Jack Furnari of Tunnels 2 Towers joined us to update us on all the wonderful works going on with the Siller Foundation. Please visit their website (link below) for more information and to learn how to help. Tunnels 2 Towers Foundation  To make a donation please use the following:Venmo: @StatenIslandGivingCirclePayPal:SIGivingCircle@aol.comChecks may be mailed to:Staten Island Giving CirclePO Box 120301Staten Island NY 10312  PLEASE KEEP US ON YOUR SHOPPING LIST, WE ARE COLLECTING: Granola Bars Pringles (individual size) Pop Tarts Use our Amazon Wishlist to have your donation sent directly to us: Amazon Wishlist  In addition, if you received a gift for the holidays that you would like to pass along, please bring it to the February meeting. We are looking for new items we can use for our Fundraising events. JOIN US AT AN INFORMATION SESSION FOR OUR NEWEST INITIATIVE, THE COMMUNITY PHILANTHROPISTS FUND. JOIN US TO GIVE BACK…BETTER….TOGETHER…LOCALLY!  We are happy to announce that we have two new schools joining our growing list of Junior Giving Circles. PS19 PS69 Linda Pignataro who works closely with Kathy Barzal on our School Liaison Committee will help onboard both schools. This is what our junior giving circles are currently collecting. Soup will be shared between our Weekend Backpack Food Program (WFBP) and Nourish the Service (NTS)  We get inquiries for teens looking to score service hours to satisfy school requirements. We have been recommending the students organize a collection of food (cereal, granola bars, fruit cups) to be used for our Food Insecurity initiatives. Students can create flyers, host the collection and deliver to the recipient for their service credit.   Please contact us for a list of items needed. Michele Yacovello 917.733.7937 MicheleSIGC@gmail.com Evelyn Kormanik H: 718.980.4862 C: 646.240.7486 sigivingcircle@aol.com Our meetings are held at Oakwood Heights Community Church, 345 Guyon Avenue. The meeting is at 7pm, in person and Zoom. Please see schedule below for upcoming dates.  |