October 2021 Newsletter

Our Weekend Backpack Food Program is now in six schools and our team has grown to 3 members as we coordinate and grow this initiative.

Josue will complete new murals at both Emma’s Place and A Very Special Place in November.

Our Literacy and STEAM zoom programs will begin in November. Our volunteers have a training call scheduled for next week. This program has it’s first male volunteer. We love that we have a male mentor as so many of these kids crave a male role model.

One of our parent coordinators requested a dinnerware set and cookware for a family in need. We are supplying Halloween Goodie Bags for all the children currently living at Hospitality House’s family shelter. We provided food, clothing and new coats for PS20’s community day. Additionally we participated in Day of Dignity, at the Harbor View School, this was in conjunction with our friends at Muslim Sisters of Staten Island. We provided raffle items, and small giveaways for the parents in attendance. While our monthly birthday parties at Hospitality House haven’t been able to fully resume we have been asked to provide birthday gift bags to those children celebrating each month. We are sponsoring a paint and pizza party for 35 fourth graders at P.S. 20. This is one of the offerings from Josue’s art studio and we have chosen a Halloween theme. Josue is bi-lingual which will also be helpful at this school.

Our homeless outreach has requested coats for this upcoming winter. We will also distribute socks, thermal shirts and other necessities., including Dunkin gift cards so they can have coffee and a warm breakfast sandwich.

Please look for our new Virtual BINGO flyer, attached at the end of this newsletter. The date has been changed to Thursday, November 4th at 7pm. We will need your support to make this event a success. Please invite family and friends to participate. If you cannot attend, please consider purchasing a 50/50 ticket to boost out fundraising efforts.

The winning ticket was purchased by Mary Alfano. This months winnings of $520 will be given to the Making Strides for Breast Cancer.  The winner donates to his/her favorite charity; it is not kept by the ticket holder. To participate, go to our website and donate via Venmo or PayPal. We suggest putting $50 (for five months or $100 for 10 months).

We have started to purchased new pajamas through a generous donation from Jen Daly and her circle of colleagues at Roundpoint Mortgage. Roundpoint matched their employee donations of $500 for a total of $1000.

PLEASE PUT A HOLD ON CLOTHING AND BOOK DONATIONS. WE HAVE RECEIVED GENEROUS DONATIONS OF BOTH AND NEED TO FIND HOMES BEFORE WE CAN ACCEPT ADDITIONAL DELIVERIES.

Michele Yacovello 917.733.7937 myacovello@gmail.com Evelyn Kormanik 718.980.4862 sigivingcircle@aol.com We have added Venmo as a payment method for donations. Please use: @StatenIslandGivingCircle This is in addition to our PayPal option SIGivingCircle@aol.com