June 2024 Newsletter

The Seniors Movement Sub-Committee hosted a Seniors’ Luncheon at New Lane for about 80 of their seniors. There was a huge amount of gourmet food donated by Lifestyles for the Disabled; Cris Rybak who owns Flower Cart Florist donated 20 plants for table centerpieces. New Lane had a young woman DJ after the lunch so our resident dancer, Fran Sisto took over helping the energy there.

Click here to donate directly to Value A Veteran Value A Veteran Alex Marrocco has made a second $4,000 donation from his organization – Road Home Foundation for Injured Warriors and Families.  Bob and Linda Ollis, The SSG Michael Ollis Freedom Foundation, have also presented us with another check in furtherance of our efforts to assist Veterans. They donated $5,000 in Memory/Honor of their son, Michael, who was killed in Afghanistan.  On the Move Military Food PantryFor several years, Bayway Refinery has donated a portion of their Golf Outing proceeds to us. To date, they have been earmarking the monies for the WFBP. Lisa Barra presented us with $4,000 from their event and asked that this year we divide that amount into two “gives.” Half will go to the WFBP and the other will go to our On The Move Military Food Pantry. JMG Public Relations continues to support the program with another $500 donation. Jenna makes these generous donations every couple of months. If you know a veteran, veteran’s spouse or an active military member who can benefit from this program please contact Kathy Barzal at KathySIGC@gmail.com

We received and fulfilled a request from PS37R, a special needs school supporting children with disabilities. The school is creating sensory corners in their classrooms and we were able to purchase six of the much needed sensory chairs.

With the school year coming to an end we want to thank all of our partner schools and PCCS for a successful 2023-2024 Weekend Food Backpack Program. This initiative has provided more than 4000 bags of groceries to food insecure families. Bayway Refinery generously donated $2000 towards the upcoming school year and we will be following up with our other donors as we ready for September.

Through our community partnerships we were able to facilitate the coordination between the Marine Corps League, Monsignor Farrell and Girl Scout Troop 5718 to have flags placed on graves at St. Peter’s Cemetery for Memorial Day.

We hosted 15 students at our May meeting. The got to hear all about the SI GIving Circle while making cards for the veterans in our community.

We want to acknowledge Nick Garcia, son of Farrah who runs the Junior Giving Circle at PS19, Nick wrote up a grant and was able to get $500 for the homeless. They used the money to make up over 100 necessity bags to help the homeless situated at the SI Ferry Terminal. This brought tremendous joy to those in need. Thank you again Nick, and Farrah for your planting the seeds of love and kindness in this wonderful young man.

We had one charity raffle winner this month. Julius Walker selected to put the $310 towards needed supplies for young adults that he assists.

Our Flag Fundraiser winner was Leslie Berg. We raised $480 for On the Move Military Food Pantry. We will be hosting our Annual Pasta Dinner & Basket Bash on Sunday, November 3rd. Please save the date on your calendars.

Interested in volunteering your time please email Kathy Barzal at KathySIGC@gmail.com We will have several monthly opportunities for you to join us in serving our community.

We want to thank everyone for their generous donations for our Annual Swimsuit Collection. A special thanks to our friends at Zion Lutheran who generously donated a wonderful amount of swimwear and flip flops to be shared with our friends at The Goodhue Community Center’s summer camp program. Our July and August collection will be Lottery scratch off tickets to be used for our November fundraiser.

Please add our remaining meeting dates to your calendar. July 18 August 15 September 19 October 17 November 21

To make a donation please use the following: Venmo: @StatenIslandGivingCircle PayPal:SIGivingCircle@aol.com Checks may be mailed to: Staten Island Giving Circle PO Box 120301 Staten Island NY 10312

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 recipients 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