WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES DECEMBER 19, 2019 33
BY BILL PARRY
BPARRY@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
The Long Island City School of
Ballet has launched its fi rst-ever
holiday breakfast food drive to
benefi t the local nonprofi t Hour Children,
which operates a food pantry for
people in need.
Items requested by the pantry are
non-perishable, healthy breakfast
foods including cereal, cocoa mix,
jams and jellies, granola, oatmeal,
canned fruit and boxed fruit juices.
“They told us that breakfast items
like those are flying off the food pantries
shelves,” a LICSB spokeswoman
said. “We’ve been wanting to do more
in the community for several years,
and we want to help make sure no
one in LIC is hungry for the holidays.
All children should be able to wake
up and have breakfast in their homes,
especially during the holidays.”
The LICSB effort augments City
Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer’s
10th annual food drive which is also
benefits Hour Children.
Participants may drop off food at
any of the seven locations that have
been designated around western
Queens including Van Bramer’s district
office located as 47-01 Queens
Blvd. Suite 205 in Sunnyside, or at
any of the Queens Public Library
branches in his district including the
new Hunters Point Library on Center
Boulevard in Long Island City.
In 1986, Sister Tesa Fitzgerald
helped develop a home in Long Island
City for children whose mothers
were incarcerated. She got to
know the mothers when she brought
their children to visit, and quickly
realized that the women would need
additional support if they were
to successfully reunite with their
children after their release.
Hour Children, incorporated in
1992, has since become a leading provider
of family services to support
women and children as they reunite,
stabilize and transform their lives.
The Hour Children food pantry is
located inside a gated parking lot on
11th Street between 36th and 37th
Avenues. The LICBS will be collecting
the breakfast food items at 44-02
23rd St. on the 2nd floor Monday
through Thursday from 3 to 7 p.m.
and Saturday from 9 to 11:00 a.m.
The food drive ends on Dec. 21 at
noon.
HOLIDAYS
Long Island City School of Ballet announces
its inaugural holiday breakfast food drive
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