5
QUEENS WEEKLY, APRIL 14, 2019
2019
* plus tax and season pass.
L & M Tours
Scheduled Bus Trips All Year Round – Over 250 Tours to Choose from
Convenient Departures From Queens, Manhattan, Brooklyn & the Bronx
Large Selection of
One Day & Multiday Tours
��������������������������������������������������������
������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
����������������������������������������������������������������������������������
������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
Established
1999
$
��������������������������
������������������������������������
718-238-2284
������������������������������
We Offer Bus Charters (23 & 56
seats bus), Cruises, Vacation
Packages & Airline Tickets.
! "#
CALL FOR
FREE
BROCHURE
Forest Hills chocolatiers
help a cancer survivor
fulfi ll her sweet wish
Mark Libertini of Aigner Chocolates in Forest Hills shows Athena how to mold chocolate Easter
bunnies. Photo by Max Parrot
BY MAX PARROTT
Athena Giassakis, an
8-year-old cancer survivor
from Ronkonkoma, snuck
chocolate scraps from the
counter as Queens chocolatier
Mark Libertini showed
her how to mold chocolate
Easter bunnies.
“When you’re making
chocolate, it’s OK to make a
mess,” said Libertini.
Libertini and his wife
Rachel Kellner, co-owners
of Aigner Chocolates in Forest
Hills, volunteered their
shop and merchandise on
Tuesday to benefit the Leukemia
and Lymphoma Society
(LLS). Libertini gave
Giassakis a chocolate-making
lesson to help celebrate
her 5-year anniversary of
remission, which she will
reach this summer.
In addition, the couple
will raffle off Harvey, a
3-foot-tall chocolate Easter
bunny, and match the proceeds
from the raffle tickets
and donate them to LLS.
The store has partnered
with LLS since Blood Cancer
Awareness Month last
September, during which
they donated chocolates
they fashioned to resemble
the organization’s logo.
LLS’s fight against
blood cancer extends beyond
research. The Giassakis
family is a part of a
program that provides education
programs, community
events and financial
assistance to the families of
cancer patients.
“When Athena was diagnosed,
we hadn’t known
anybody that had cancer.
So for us it was a form of resources
and information,”
said Athena’s mother Dana
Giassakis. “When parents
are getting thrown into
the course of treatment
with leukemia, they throw
medicine names at you,
and you’re still numb over
the fact that your child is
sick, so you get very overwhelmed.”
It was more than just the
association with LLS that
brought the Giassakis family
together with Aigner
Chocolates though.
For Athena, chocolate
stopped her from being
overwhelmed during her
battle against Acute Lymphoblastic
Leukemia. As a
result she cultivated a taste
for what she referred to as
“bougie chocolate.”
She’s not alone, according
to Bridget Mantello, the
campaign manager for the
Long Island LLS chapter.
“A part of the treatment
cycle is steroids, which
causes kids to crave crazy
things,” Mantello said.
“Specifically for Athena,
and for a lot of kids, that’s
chocolate, which can be
found to be most comforting.”
Dana Giassakis couldn’t
be more grateful for the
work of chocolatiers like
Libertini, who uses molds
and recipes he inherited
from the Aigner family,
who owned the shop for over
three generations before he
and his wife took over.
“I will never take for
granted up a foiled piece of
chocolate again,” Giassakis
said.
Aigner Chocolates will
be selling raffle tickets for
Harvey for $1 each until
Easter Sunday, April 21,
when they will open to announce
the winner.