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April 22-28, 2022 Your Neighborhood — Your News®
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Queens College unveils Yellow Heart Memorial
honoring community members lost to COVID-19
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
More than 120 yellow paper
hearts bearing the names
of loved ones lost to COVID-19
were displayed on the windows
surrounding the entrance to
the Queens College Benjamin
Rosenthal Library in Flushing
on Wednesday, April 13.
Those who were honored
during the ceremony ranged
from family and friends of college
community members to
faculty, staff and alumni at
Queens College’s Yellow Heart
Memorial event held outside at
Cooperman Plaza in front of the
library. Names of the deceased
were read aloud after the college’s
jazz ensemble performed
a musical selection.
“There may be no place on
the face of the globe that has
been more affected by COVID
than Queens,” said Queens
College President Frank Wu.
“Almost everyone associated
with Queens College, everyone
in this borough of ours, in this
community, has lost someone
special in their lives or they
know someone who has suffered
such a loss because of this
pandemic.”
The Yellow Heart Memorial
is an initiative sponsored by the
eponymous nonprofit organization
that aims to acknowledge
More than 120 yellow paper hearts were displayed on the windows of the Queens College Benjamin Rosenthal
Library. Photo by Paul Frangipane
those who died from COVID not
as statistics, but as beloved family
members, friends and colleagues;
their names or pictures
are placed on individual yellow
paper hearts and displayed in a
common area.
Queens College is the first
college in New York state and
the second in the nation to hold
such a memorial.
The event was spearheaded
by two students — sisters Jessica
and Danielle Alejandro —
in memory of their grandfather
Joseph Anthony Szalkiewicz,
who died from complications of
COVID-19 in March of 2021.
Like so many who were separated
from their loved ones during
the pandemic, the Alejandros
bid goodbye to “the heart
of their family” over FaceTime
shortly before his death. Both
sisters are pursuing education
degrees.
“We are here today to never
allow our loved ones to become
just a number in this COVID-19
pandemic,” Jessica said. “They
fought tough battles alone in
those hospitals and we will never
allow anyone to forget their
names, their battles and anything
they have experienced.
We will make this our mission
to not only keep our papa’s memory
alive, but all of your loved
ones’ memories alive as well.”
Gerry Brostek told a story of
losing his father Joseph Brostek
to COVID-19.
“After Dad died, we received
messages of condolence from so
many Queens College people,
some who we knew and others
we had no idea who they were,
but they felt that they wanted
to express their condolence and
love for our dad,” Brostek said.
Rosie Davis, who lost her
mother to COVID at the start
of the pandemic, shared how it
motivated her to start the Yellow
Heart Memorial. The memorial
currently has 12 national
chapters and one international
chapter.
“My family, like so many others,
couldn’t have the celebration
of life that we deserved, so I
turned my grief into action and
I thought, ‘How am I going to let
the world know what a wonderful
person my mom is?’” Davis
said. “That’s how the Yellow
Heart Memorial was created —
out of grief, out of heartbreak. I
never realized that there were
thousands of people who needed
what I needed.”
Additional reporting by Paul
Frangipane.
Read more on QNS.com.
Vol. 88 No. 16 40 total pages
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