STANDING Brooklyn’s Biggest Booster
Bookseller donates $1M in scholarships
MANHATTAN BEACH
Three cheers for Leonard Riggio,
the founder and chairman of Barnes
& Noble book chain, who recently
donated $1 million toward scholarships
for students at Kingsborough
Community College.
The bookworm announced the donation
after his keynote address at the
college’s commencement ceremony on
June 13.
“Nothing is more important to
me than the pursuit of civil and human
rights,” said Riggio. “Young people
suffocated by student loans is not
my idea of a functioning society. Free
high-quality college education must be
available to all.”
The donation will go toward the
“100 Strong Scholarship Fund,”
which will provide full tuition for
100 recent high school graduates who
are starting their scholarly career at
Kingsborough next fall.
The college’s president said the donations
would help the young students
focus on their educational journey —
rather than worry about fi nances.
“Many of our students are the fi rst
in their families to go to college. Many
work full- and part-time jobs, and care
for their children and parents,” said
Claudia V. Schader. “Mr. Riggio’s
very generous gift will allow these students
the opportunity to focus on their
academic success and lifelong learning,
without concerns of how they will
fund their education.”
Founded in 1963, the college — located
on a 70-acre campus in Manhattan
Beach — is Brooklyn’s only community
college, and serves around
10,000 students. The school was recognized
in April as one of the top 10 Community
Colleges in the nation by the
Aspen Institute, an educational and
policy think tank.
The school hopes that Riggio’s donation
will help propel the school to
new academic heights.
“Mr. Riggio is making an indelible
difference in the lives of our students
for years to come, and we are
truly grateful for his support,” said
Schader.
Standing O salutes Riggio and
Kingsborough Community College the
generous donation!
— Aidan Graham
CONEY ISLAND
They’re striking out prostate cancer!
Doctors, local celebrities, and
baseball fans stepped up to the
plate at Coney Island’s MCU
Park on July 24 to raise awareness
about prostate cancer and
celebrate the opening of Maimonides
Medical Center’s new prostate
facility.
“It was nice to see how many different
parts of the community came
out,” said Adam Stoltz, the vice
president of Strategy & Administration
at Maimonides.
Employees at Maimonides
faced off against a team of celebrities
assembled by the news network
WABC — including retired
Yankee player Jim Leyritz, former
football player Sean Landeta,
men’s fashion designer
Joseph Abboud, and stand-up comedian
Jim Breuer. But despite
WABC’s star-studded line-up, the
Maimonides physicians swept the
competition, winning the softball
game 7-4.
But to Stoltz, the event was less
30 COURIER LIFE, AUG. 2-8, 2019 B G M
about winning than it was about the
cause. One in nine American men is
diagnosed with prostate cancer, and
the disease claims 30,000 lives annually,
Stoltz said.
“It’s a major issue in New York
City communities,” he lamented.
To fi ght the deadly disease, Borough
Park’s Maimonides Medical
Center opened a prostate center
earlier this year that uses high-frequency
ultrasound technology to
kill cancerous cells. The center’s
innovative, noninvasive procedure
is the fi rst of its kind on the East
Coast, Stolz claimed, and last week’s
softball game tipped locals off to the
good news.
“It helped us get the word out,”
said Stolz.
In addition to the game, Maimonides
honored three employees and
one community leader whose contributions
have made the new prostate
center possible. To Stolz, that recognition
stuck with him more than the
game itself.
“As fun as the game was, some
of the most important moments was
when we honored these folks,” Stolz
noted. — Rose Adams
WILLIAMSBURG
Lets hear it for the Human Impacts
Institute, a Williamsburg
based nonprofi t that is fi ghting
the global climate crisis — with
art!
The Human Impacts Institute
seeks to foster the systematic
changes needed for
humanity to avert disaster by
using art to educate and inspire.
The nonprofit will host
events on Governor’s Island
called House of Solutions,
where locals are invited to explore
solutions to staving off
apocalypse, including an Aug.
2 dance party to honor plants
and trees.
Founder and director Tara
DePorte started The Human
Impacts Institute in 2010 after
working for nine years as director
of environmental education
and as program director
for the Lower East Side Ecology
Center, where she helped
develop opportunities for inner
city youth to learn about
their local environment.
She has also served as a
global representative of The
Climate Reality Project since
2006, presenting to thousands
of people worldwide about climate
change
DePorte has a bachelors in
Human Impacts on Ecosystems
from the University of Virginia
and a masters in Climate and
Society from Columbia University.
DePorte’s passion for climate
goes beyond her extensive
education in developing sustainable
environments for societies.
She has also had climate
experience in Latin America,
the Caribbean and Europe.
— Chandler Kidd
CELEBRITY SOFTBALL: Friends gathered to play at Maimonides’ Celebrity Softball
game last week, which raised awareness of prostate cancer. Photo by Trey Pentecost
MCU Park hosts celebrity softball
game to celebrate new cancer center
Kingsborough Community College
Tara DePorte the founder and director
for the Human Impacts Institute
Photo Via / Tara DePorte