Community Stars of the Week: June 22, 2020

NewYorkIslanders.com is spotlighting heroes who are helping their community! Nominate a community hero here!
Community Hero: Customers of Main St. Board Game CaféThe customers of Main St. Board Game Café in Huntington donated over $13K to buy board games for LI hospitals
Sometimes the community is the hero.
The customers of Main St. Board Game Cafe in Huntington donated over $13,000 to buy board games for Long Island hospitals. Over 300 board games were donated to the children's wings at Huntington Hospital, NYU-Winthrop, Stony Brook University Hospital and Sunrise Association, which is a camp for children with cancer. Board games were also given as gifts to ER staff and hospital patients.

While the Main St. Board Game Café helped organize and distribute the board games, the initiative was 100% customer driven. The idea was initiated by a regular customer, who bought $5,000 worth of board games to donate to hospitals, both helping support the cafe and uplifting the spirits of the kids and healthcare workers.
The generous gesture inspired Main St. Board Game to build a donation portal on their website and the community rallied, chipping in to purchase board games for local hospitals. Another regular customer was so moved that they matched the $5,000 donation, helping the initiative nearly double in size.

Community Hero: Josephine ParlagrecoHigh school chemistry teacher volunteers at Community Cupboard in spare time
Josephine is a chemistry teacher at North Bellmore's Mepham High School, and is commonly referred to among the students and the Bellmore-Merrick High School community as Mrs. P.
Mrs. P has been a crucial piece to the Bellmore-Merrick community, being one of the lead volunteers at the Bellmore-Merrick Community Cupboard at Meadowbrook High School in Merrick. She puts in countless hours of volunteer work stocking shelves and putting together grocery bags for over 50+ families who depends on the cupboard for groceries each week.
Inside the classroom, Mrs. P has always puts her students first, and describing her as self-less does not do her justice. Mrs. P is a role model for all students, and community members in this time of unity and teamwork!

Community Hero: Brandon BirchBrandon Birch has volunteered at Bellmore-Merrick EMS
Brandon Birch answered the call during the coronavirus pandemic, selflessly volunteering his time at the Bellmore-Merrick EMS. Birch is responding to emergencies as an EMT as a volunteer, doing it for the good of the community. He's also dedicated his time to helping feed COVID first responders and nurses.