54 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • AUGUST 24, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Thanks to NY1 and Cheryl Wills
vschneps@gmail.com
The grandkids had a wonderful time in the pool!
On the set of “In Focus” with Cheryl Wills; John Pfeifer, the director of autism
services at Life’s WORC; and City Councilman Andrew Cohen.
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Building memories on vacation
End of summer for me
means I have the treat
of my family gathering
together. For the past few years,
I've rented an eight-bedroom
house for my kids and their
six children, and then another
weekend with my late beloved
husband Stu 's four children
and nine grandchildren.
How lucky am I?
Whatever the weather, for me
the sun is shining as I watched
the kids interacting with each
other. I watched 10-year-old
Blake carried little two-year-old
Sloane in his arms as she ran
into our rented house aft er her
two-hour drive from Brooklyn.
She was full of vim and vigor,
ready to run and chase her
cousins around the rooms.
What amazes me is that they
can spend hours engaged with
each other. On arriving, it
was a family aff air blowing up
the pool fl oats that had been
stored away all winter aft er
last summer’s fun. Th at alone
took hours, with each kid
helping Spencer, my son-inlaw,
pump away until the fi ve
fl oats were ready for action.
Although my media company
goes on with the launch of
our latest newsmagazine, the
historic relaunch of the Long
Island Press, I'm working while
playing but my team is in full
swing getting it ready for an
early September distribution.
Gala planned for hotel association
Th e Chinese American Hotel Association will hold its fi rst gala
at Terrace on the Park in Flushing on Nov. 8. Th e gala is being
organized in conjunction with our very own Star Network. Among
those pictured are American China Hotel Association President
John Lam (center, seated) and Association Vice President Derek
Law (to Lam’s right).
Having met the talented
Cheryl Wills when
she was honored at our
Power Women event, we had
dinner together shortly aft er. I
mentioned that it was the 40th
anniversary of the opening of
the Geraldo Rivera Group Home
in Little Neck.
It sits gracefully on a half acre
on a lushly tree-lined street,
Gaskell Road, just a block off
Northern Blvd.
I shared with Cheryl the battle
we fought to open the house
for children coming out of the
infamous Willowbrook State
School on Staten Island. Aft er
winning a class action lawsuit,
brought on behalf of my
daughter Lara and other residents,
we successfully won the
right for the 5,400 people living
there to be placed in homes
with day programs created to
go along with the home they
live in.
Sadly, when Life’s WORC
found a house, neighbors in
Little Neck sued us to try and
prevent us from buying the site.
I remember the days and
nights spent talking to neighborhood
groups near the proposed
house to explain who
would live in the home. But
no one who was opposed ever
changed his or her mind. Th e
locally created civic association
sued us to stop the purchase and
operation of the home.
Fortunately, we had the great
Judge Angelo Graci who found
in our favor and history was
made again: Group homes
could exist in R1 and R2 zones,
not in manufacturing zones as
the neighbors had hoped to
achieve.
With the battle won, our Life’s
WORC board decided to name
the house in honor of Geraldo
Rivera whose Emmy Awardwinning
coverage of the horrific
conditions at Willowbrook
infl uenced the parents who
belonged to the Willowbrook
Parents Association to join the
class action lawsuit. Th at lawsuit
changed forever how children
with disabilities are served.
I still recall the day the fi rst
residents walked up the path to
the front door carrying black
garbage bags fi lled with all their
worldly possessions. It was the
fi rst day of the rest of their lives
living in a nurturing, protected
environment. Th at continues
to this day.
I was interviewed about the
anniversary on Cheryl’s NY1
weekend talk show, “In Focus.”
If you missed it, check out
#infocusny1. It’s available on
line. I’m so grateful we could
once again recall the challenges
families have coping with children
with special needs.
