NORTH SHORE TOWERS CARES FOR THE NEEDY
BY BEVERLY BORD
November was a
double-header
for North Shore
Towers Cares for the
Needy in conjunction
with Commonpoint
Queens. It was a month
when the October collections
of new socks were
distributed through The
Soldiers Angels Warm
Feet for Warriors campaign.
Congratulations to
Building 3, the “winner”
for most collected socks
for the month of October.
November was also the beginning
of the collection of detergents to
be donated to the needy for the
holiday season.
Newspapers and television programs
bring home to us that many
needy persons are unable to fully
participate in the festive gift-giving
and food-enjoying part of holiday
celebrations. Consider that the
Commonpoint Central Queens
center’s food pantry, located in
Forest Hills, Queens, is a good
place for the needy to get the food,
hygiene and cleaning supplies they
need for themselves and their families.
The pantry is a barrier-free
facility which stocks kosher food
for distribution to meet the needs
of individuals and families for
the holidays and all-year round.
Volunteers are available to register
participants, to assist with the
foodstuffs and other daily essential
items.
Reminder for all North Shore
residents: The brown hamper-like
bins in each building’s mailbox
room near to the newspaper racks
are meant for donations only and
not for newspaper circular disposal.
The flyer on the top of the
brown bin serves as a reminder for
the month’s collection and should
not be accidentally removed. The
following is a list of items for the
months ahead:
December: New t-shirts,
pj’s and underwear for
Central Queens Y Food
Pantry.
January: Diapers, baby
wipes and other baby
supplies.
Happy, healthy, peaceful
New Year 2020 to all
North Shore Towers residents,
their families and
friends. Remember: The
annual holiday season has
begun and it’s a time for
celebration and fun. Fill
those brown bins with gifts
of joy, for all the needy girls and
boys, and thank you!
a spontaneous celebration of
blessings, in the midst of uncertain
times. Rachel Remen, a wise and
learned physician who has written
the books “Kitchen Table Wisdom”
and “My Grandfather’s Blessing,”
remembers her grandfather teaching
her the toast “L’chaim – to life!”
when she was a little girl. “Is it to
a happy life?” Rachel would ask.
“No, just to life,” her grandfather
would respond: “No matter what
difficulty life brings, no matter how
hard or painful or unfair life is, life
is worthy of celebration. Life itself
is a blessing.” “L’chaim is about
choosing life again and again,”
Rachel Remen concluded years
later.
So, L’chaim – to life! Farewell
2019. For new times’ sake, I am
ready to release you to my memory
archives of olden days. A brand
new 2020 is on the way, still under
wraps, awaiting a grand reveal,
and as T. S. Eliot said: “The end is
where we start from…”
2019 was my year of the Fiddler.
I thoroughly enjoyed Fiddler
Afn Dakh – the wonderful
Yiddish version on Broadway;
re-read Sholem Aleichem’s
Tevye’s Daughters; read Alisa
Solomon’s Wonder of Wonders:
The Cultural History of Fiddler
on the Roof (recommended); and
loved the film Fiddler: A Miracle
of Miracles, which I saw here at
our North Shore Towers Cinema.
As I am writing this, I am looking
through my 2019 photo albums,
and my mind keeps wandering
off to Fiddler on the Roof songs:
Numerous photos of sunsets
(I admit: I am addicted…) and
fewer photos of sunrises – the
vistas changing from season to
season…
(“Sunrise, sunset. Sunrise, sunset.
Swiftly flow the years.”)
Photos of the children, so
grown up…
(“Wasn’t it yesterday when
they were small?”
“What words of wisdom can I
give them?”
“How can I help to ease their
way?”)
Various photos of all five
grandchildren (I can’t stop…)
(“Seedlings turn overnight to
sunflowers, blossoming even as
we gaze.”)
Recent photos of our two
younger grandsons: Do kids grow
faster these days? The youngest
boy is almost as tall as I am,
and his brother is already taller
than me…
(“When did he grow to be so
tall?”)
Family Photos: I look like my
mother…
(“I don’t remember growing
older…”)
Photos of medical records…
(“Life has a way of confusing
us. Blessing and bruising us.”)
Photos of tech gifts I bought
for the grandchildren, not knowing
what in the world each was
intended for. I truly can’t keep
up with the trends: Minecraft
and Gizmo Watches, Mophie
juice packs (no, not the juice
drink packs) and Smart Clocks,
Pinterest and Chatbots. And
though it is 2019, this grandmother
is still using AOL (yes,
AOL is still a thing…).
(“On the other hand, our old
ways were once new, weren’t
they?”)
Investment Club Update
BY BUD BANK
The North Shore Towers Investment Club met on Tuesday,
November 12, in the Coleridge Lounge. We discussed which
stocks, if any, we may want to sell, and also talked about purchasing
other stocks. Year-to-date, the Dow is up 15.9% and the
club is up 17.02%.
Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, December 10 at 7:30 PM in
the Coleridge lounge. The topic will be: What can we expect in 2020?
All residents are welcome to join us. Please call Herb Cooper at
718-631-8264.
December 2019 ¢ NORTH SHORE TOWERS COURIER 21