Posted on Jun 21, 2020
All of the projects were amazing and showed a great commitment to serving the community.  We would like to thank everyone for submitting their projects. Brandon organized the Face shields and ear savers for the front line workers and Sophia organized the Fundraiser for Nursing Home.
 
All of the projects were amazing and showed a great commitment to serving the community.  We would like to thank everyone for submitting their projects. 
 
Commack Winner: Brandon G. (Commack High School) Face shields and ear savers for the front line workers
I organized it.  My project benefits the community by providing the front liners with much needed PPE.I supplied face shields to over 2,000 people. These face shields help protect the front line and the people who they interact with and treat.I created the shields with my 3D printers . My mom posted on our town page to offer these to the community . We had a lot of interest and I was printing nonstop.I am still making more to donate . I was surprised at how many people were in need of PPE.I was asked if I can make someone an ear saver because her ears were hurting from wearing a mask all day. I then started making war savers along with the shields . I donated over 800 ear savers so far.I have donated both shields and ear savers to many nurses, Doctors,hospitals,nursing homes, cancer centers, dentists, eye doctors,and food distribution charities along with many others. I decided to work on this project because I saw on the news how there was a lack of PPE. I found the design for the shields online and decided to make a few and see if there was a demand. I knew that my 3 d printers could easily create the much needed PPE. Once I saw how large the demand was I knew that I had to help keep people safe.I had a lot of extra time on my hands so I was able to devote all of that time making these face shields. I then decided to make the ear savers to help people stay more comfortable in their masks. Service is important to our community because we should help those who need it.We should always try to lift people up and never put them down. Always choose kindness. If we help serve our community then we can make it a better place to live. Serving our community helps to keep it balanced.If everyone served the community then it would only make it that much better to live , work and play in. 
 
Kings Park Winner: Sophia S. (William T. Rogers Middle School) Fundraiser for Nursing Home
Both my sister and I organized the project. The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on everyone. I sent letters to my neighbors to raise funds to provide lunch,  big beautiful flower cupcakes and a rock garden for the frontline healthcare workers at Good Samaritan Nursing Home. I was able to support local Kings Park businesses purchasing lunch and the cupcakes from them. I was also able to gain the support of several Kings Park families in donating to a worthwhile cause. Although Good Samaritan Nursing Home is not located in Kings Park, it is important to give back to those who have risked their lives to care for the sick and elderly. These are the true heroes during this horrific time. Everyone at the nursing home was so grateful and appreciative.  I decided to work on this community service project because I wanted to give back to the healthcare workers who have given so much during this pandemic. I was stuck at home and felt helpless. I wanted to do something positive for the people on the front lines. I sent a letter to my neighbors explaining the project and many were very supportive. My great grandma lives at Good Samaritan Nursing Home and the healthcare workers take excellent care of all her needs. I wanted to do something to thank them for their courage and dedication. I collected 150 river rocks and spent hours painting them with inspirational words. It was Mother’s Day weekend when we went to the nursing home to create the rock garden and deliver the cupcakes. A few days later we delivered lunch. The garden turned out amazing and the healthcare workers were so thankful. It is important for everyone to be involved in community service. I have been taught to help people who are less fortunate. I need to do my part as a productive member of society to help others. All communities need people to volunteer and give back. This community service project was very important to me because I wanted to make a very difficult situation a little better for those on the front lines. I wanted to put a smile on the healthcare workers faces. They are putting their lives on the line to care for the most vulnerable. They are heroes. This was my small contribution during a worldwide pandemic. It was not much, but it was something. I know they were very happy that their hard work and dedication was recognized. I will continue to participate in community service activities because it is a part of who I am to give back to my community. 
 
Kaitlyn C. (Commack High School) Seniors Give Back Food and Toiletry Drive 
I coordinated the project. I worked with 4 other students.  The project benefited those in need by providing 638 pounds of food to Island Harvest so they could distribute and a large amount of toiletries to Helping Hand Rescue Mission to distribute to those in need. Our community has been so generous and supportive of us, the high school seniors who have not had the senior year we expected. We wanted to do something to give back and pay it forward to those in need. We are very blessed and while disappointed in the change of the ending to our senior year, know how fortunate are to have all of our needs met. We wanted to help others who are not as fortunate. This Covid19 pandemic has shown us just how important our community is. Doing for others is important. It is what has kept us going and thriving during this time. It is so important to let others know you care by giving your time, service, or even a smile. You can really make a difference to others and lift their spirits. For many people, there is a feeling of lost hope or desperation, especially during this isolating time. Helping community members let’s them know that someone cares about them. It gives them hope. It helps them fell like a part of something. The best part of community service is the feeling it gives you. It fills you with joy knowing you helped others. Giving is way better than receiving. Many people do not believe that poverty, hunger or homelessness exists in these areas, but they are there in every neighborhood. We are so glad to have been able to provide food and toiletries to members of our community. 
 
Ben T. (Commack High School) Adopt a Senior Cougar - Class of 2020
Organizer. All graduating seniors at Commack High School had the opportunity to have their profiles posted on line and members in and out of the community had the opportunity to “adopt” them.  This included sending notes of encouragement and congratulations as well as any gifts they opted to send to the senior. To date, there are more than 750 members who have joined the group and to date, every senior who has been posted has been adopted.  As a junior, I felt terrible that the pandemic caused the shutdown of school and that the graduating seniors would not be experiencing all of the traditional end of year excitement that they normally had. The added stress of being on lockdown and not being able to share this time with their classmates before going off to college, fueled my desire to want to bring some positivity to the situation. It brings a sense of togetherness  to everyone who becomes involved. As a result of this project, it was so obvious that the domino effect of the positive impact was felt by the recipients, but also their families and the families of those who contributed by adopting the seniors. 
 
Nicholas P. (William T. Rogers Middle School) Birthday Beep/Food Drive
Yes, I organized the project on my own. The project benefited the community because, during this pandemic, many families are in need of food due to loss of income from jobs.  Our community has been hit by hard, with many families struggling to make ends meet.  Kings Park School District has run occasional food drives to assist local families in our community. Since many of us are struggling financially, asking for money would have been difficult.  However, asking people to contribute just one non-perishable food item was not a huge imposition because most people are able to donate just one item from their pantry to help others.  Having a food pantry that is available to our residents when needed is an essential component to our community.  Keeping it stocked is a way that families can be assured that they will be fed during these times of uncertainty.  I decided to work on this project because of the importance of families in our community having enough food to eat.  Plus, since my birthday was coming up and the popularity of "Birthday Beeps" are high due to the pandemic, I thought an easy way would be to ask my friends and family to contribute as they were driving by anyway!  I was very touched and impressed by just how many people came out and contributed non-perishable food items and gift cards.  It was a great way to get the food needed without having to violate any of the social distancing guidelines.  I simply asked everyone to not give any birthday gifts but instead donate a non-perishable food item as they drove by.  I believe that every member of a community, no matter the age, can contribute to a community.  We need to help each other out in our town when a need arises.  Kings Park has always been a place where, when a tragedy occurs, residents will contribute in any way they can.  We all need to support and lean on each other during difficult times so we can thrive and keep our community strong .  Our community is served by so many great volunteers and I was always motivated by their example.  My family has always stressed the importance of charitable work, however, as a teenager, I am limited as to what I can do.  I felt empowered by this opportunity and will continue to serve my community as opportunity arise or if I can create an opportunity myself, as I have done this time.
 
Jordyn H. (Wood Park Elementary School) Commack Strong Bracelets
I am 7 and my mother helped me to organize this project. I have currently raised approximately $400 that I plan on using to buy food and treats to say thank you to hard working hospital staff, direct support staff at DDI's Children's Residential Program, and local EMTs and First responders.  I was hoping to donate pizzas and chocolate treat baskets.  I would also like to purchase these items from local businesses so that way I am supporting Commack small businesses also. I think it is very important to help the people working hard every single day to help others.  Kindness is very important, especially during such a sad and difficult time for so many people.
In my school we are taught about Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Happy Kids. I believe that I am demonstrating many of those habits in taking on this project.  The last habit is “Synergize.” This means to work together.  By making these bracelets I am synergizing with my mom and with the community who is support me and the essential workers. 
My uncle is a social worker in a hospital, he got sick with coronavirus a few months ago.  He is healthy and went right back to work to continue to help others. I want to thank him and others like him.  My friend's aunt died due to covid-19. I want to let families know that we are thinking of them.  My mom works with students with developmental disabilities and autism who live in group homes - they are dependent on staff to care for them.  These staff have come to work day in and day out to continue to provide for these students. I wanted to make sure that all of the people who put themselves first are recognized.  
I believe that community service is important because we need to give back and support each other.  Our whole community benefits when we “synergize.” I think this is even more important when we are so separated.  It is hard to not be with friends and family.  People are feeling sad and upset. I feel like when you do good, you feel good.  I also think when you do something good for someone it makes them want to do something good for someone else. I want to start a wave of kindness.  I also think that I can show adults that you don’t need to be grown to be helpful in your community. 
 
Olivia B., Leanna B., Lauren T. and Olivia C. (William T. Rogers Middle School) The COVID-19 Banner Project
As a group, we organized this project.  Although our project made a lot of people happy, the true benefit to the community came from our donation to "Kings Park Helping Kings Park".  Four Hundred dollars in profit was donated so far.  We had so many requests for our product, that we quickly ordered more supplies and are continuing to make and sell them to raise more money for our community.  We will have another $1000 to donate next week and if the word continues to spread about our project, we will continue to make more to help Kings Park.  During the quarantine, we have kept ourselves busy with our schoolwork, zoom activities, face-timing friends & of course plenty of drive-by parades.  When everyone's banners and signs kept flying off of their cars, we thought of a way to solve this problem.  Using magnets we created a new way of securely attaching the banners to our cars without the mess from the tape and also without the frustration of watching our banners fly down the road!  After our moms got our supplies together, we got together one afternoon (in the yard with our masks on) and made a bunch of magnetic birthday and graduation banners.  We called this The COVID-19 Banner Project.  We decided to sell these banners and donate 100% of the profits to our community.  We even had our siblings from RJO help us and we called ourselves "The Quarantine Club".  Providing a service to those that need it most has a lasting positive impact on the whole community. We have always participated in community service to better Kings Park. Some of our services helped children in our community such as participation in Reading Buddies, peer tutoring, and working with special needs children by assisting them in our dance studio. Other services we have participated in helped families in need such as clothing drives, food drives, and volunteering our time to help our PTA and our School of Religion. We have been fortunate during this pandemic because we have all been healthy, safe, and able to take part in online learning and zoom activities. We realized that some of our community members were not as lucky. Although serving our community has always been important to us, during this pandemic we really wanted to personally do something because people we knew in Kings Park were affected in so many ways due to COVID-19.  Our hope is that by donating this money to "Kings Park Helping Kings Park" the families in our community affected by this pandemic will get the help that they need.
  
Melody L. (Commack High School) Care Packages for Seniors
I did this project with my sister.  This project benefitted the community because it helped take care of the senior citizens living in Artis Senior Living. My sister and I worked hand in hand to put together care packages for the senior citizens; inside of these packages were handmade masks, paper made flowers with inspiration messages, snacks such as Doritos, Lays, Cheetos and Crispy Rolls, as well as skincare products. All of these goods were well sanitized and help to protect the receivers of them. In our opinions, the best community is a safe and happy one, and my sister and I worked hard to maintain the safety and joy in our community!  My sister and I feel beyond grateful that our family and friends are safe in the midst of this global pandemic, and we wanted to help others feel the same way. We felt awful that many senior citizens didn’t have the opportunity to see their family at such a hard point in time, therefore we put together these care packages in order to keep them safe, and hopefully to bring a smile to their faces. The handmade masks serve as a means of protection, the skincare products serve as a way to keep clean, and the snacks and inspirational flower messages serve as a way to brighten up their day.
 
Jasmine L. (Commack Middle School) Caring for our senior citizens
My Girl Scout Troop did this project together with our leader's assistance.  Elders are important assets to any community because they have been through many experiences and we can learn a lot from them.   Our project benefited the community by cheering up the senior citizens with handmade cards, paper flowers and Girl Scout cookies, so they know that we care about them.  We also want them to know that just because they can't have visitors, it doesn't mean that they are not being forgotten  In addition, his may encourage other kids to help out in their ways so we are going to go through this difficult time together.  When my troop leader approached to us, she told us that a lot of the elders were locked in the living center without visitors due to Covid-19.  Although the staffs took a good care of them, they may feel lonely and sad because they couldn't see their families.  I thought of my own grandparents who has been quarantined at their home in Queens.  When I sent them a card and flowers, they called me through facetime to tell me how happy they were. Therefore, I immediately decided to make encouragement cards and paper flowers for the senior citizens, so they know that they are not alone.  We also sent them some Girl Scout cookies because sweets can always bring happiness. It is important to pass the messages to everyone that a little help can bring a big joy in one's life.  As a young member in the community,  I may not make a big financial donation like the adults and I may not make a huge impact as the essential workers who risks their lives to keep the world going, but I can still help out in my own ways.  I think my action will encourage other Girl Scouts and kids to help out as well.  If we work together and assist each other, we can definitely make the world a better place.