FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM MARCH 15, 2018 • THE QUEENS COURIER 31
Elmhurst fi fth-grader beats out hundreds to win
New York’s Missing Children’s Day Poster Contest
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com / @angelamatua
Saranika Chakraborty, a fi ft h-grader at
Th e 51st Avenue Academy in Elmhurst,
was crowned the winner of the annual
New York Missing Children’s Day Poster
Contest.
Th e contest, sponsored by the U.S.
Department of Justice, challenges
fi ft h-graders to raise awareness and
educate people about unresolved missing
Drag Queen Story Hour is big hit in Queens
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com / @angelamatua
Th e Jackson Heights library was
packed on March 8 as drag queen
Angel Elektra read stories to children
as part of Drag Queen Story
Hour (DQSH).
Due to its success, Councilman
Daniel Dromm, who sponsored
the event, also brought program
to the Queens Library in Elmhurst
at 86-07 Broadway on March 14.
Th e events are for children ages
3 through 8 years old. Th e program
fi rst started in San Francisco
in 2015, where drag queens visited
schools, libraries and bookstores
to read to children. It has expanded
to Los Angeles, New York City
and northern New Jersey.
“I am thrilled to bring Drag
Queen Story Hour to Jackson
Heights,” Dromm said. “Drag
Queen Story Hour is a fun and fabulous
way of encouraging children to read. It is
also a great way to teach them to embrace
our society’s diff erences and diversity.
Th e expressions of joy on their faces
when they saw and interacted with Angel
Elektra were priceless. Th e fl amboyancy
and theatrics of Drag Queen Story Hour
truly captured the children’s attention
and helped facilitate learning.”
Elektra read “It’s Okay To Be Diff erent”
by Todd Parr in Spanish while Dromm
read the book in English. Queens Library
President and CEO Dennis Walcott was
also in attendance.
Parents on Facebook praised the program.
“Th is story hour is amazing,” wrote
Facebook user Ilan Cole. “Th e only problem
is when I brought Aria she kept wanting
to steal the queen’s purse and jewels.
But seriously kids and drag queens should
hang more. Th e craft s! Th e drama! Th e
songs. Symbiotic I tell you.”
According to the program’s website,
DQSH “captures the imagination and
play of the gender fl uidity of childhood
and gives kids glamorous, positive and
unabashedly queer role models.”
“Th is brings joy to my life and soul!!”
Elektra wrote on Facebook. “I’ll continue
to embrace it, thank you Public Library
Jackson Heights for allowing to be part of
this magical day.”
Flushing man celebrates 20 years helping
to feed the hungry with City Harvest
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
Flushing resident Teo Ramirez is proud
to be a part of a movement to provide food
for those in need in his neighborhood, borough
and beyond.
Ramirez, an immigrant from the
Dominican Republic, has called Flushing
home since 1986, when he and his wife
decided the neighborhood was a good place
to live. It was there they raised their four
children.
About a decade aft er moving into the
neighborhood, a friend who already
worked for City Harvest — an organization
which transports food that would otherwise
go to waste to families in need — suggested
Ramirez apply for a job. He put in an application
to become a driver.
“I did, I got the job, and I am still here
20 years later,” he said. “I love my job and
helping New Yorkers.”
On an average day, Ramirez drives one
of the organization’s 22 trucks and picks
up food from donors at local supermarkets
and bakeries. He then delivers the
food, mostly bread and produce, to nearby
agencies that distribute the food to locals
in need.
Th e driver said he sometimes sees
upwards of 300 people waiting in line outside
of a pantry. While making a recent
delivery to an agency based on Main Street,
a staff worker told Ramirez he had 200 people
waiting for the large food delivery and
the food would all be handed out within
an hour.
Th is year, City Harvest celebrates 35
years of serving the community. Nearly 1.3
million New Yorkers struggle to put meals
on the table, according to the organization.
To date, City Harvest has rescued and
delivered over 600 million pounds of nutritious
food for hungry city residents.
In Queens, approximately 264,440 people
are food insecure, according to recent data.
Northwest Queens is one of City Harvest’s
“Healthy Neighborhoods”: a program that
provides essential food resources to areas
of the fi ve boroughs that are most in need.
“My route is in Queens, in my own neighborhood,
and it feels really good to help my
community,” he said. “I didn’t know until I
started working for City Harvest that there
were so many people in need in this area. I
feel good that I am able to help feed people
in my neighborhood.”
Ramirez said he plans to work for the
organization until he retires.
Learn more about City Harvest’s operation
by visiting their website at www.cityharvest.
org.
children cases. On May 23, 1983, the
United States government designated that
date as National Missing Children’s Day
aft er Etan Patz vanished from a New York
City street three years earlier.
To draw awareness to missing children,
Chakraborty, 10, sketched a drawing of a
boy with a tear streaming down his cheek
as he draws a picture of his family. On the
side of the poster, there is a smaller drawing:
a family with the words “family is forever”
written beneath the image.
“Children should be safe at home
and not have to worry about danger,”
Saranika wrote in a description of her
poster. “I hope no one has to ever be or
feel like the boy.”
Chakraborty’s poster was chosen from
302 entries from 49 school districts
throughout the state. New York State
Missing Persons Clearinghouse, which is
located at the state Division of Criminal
Justice Services (DCJS), narrowed the
entries to 60 to be reviewed by a panel of
three judges.
Th e Missing Persons Clearinghouse
assists law enforcement agencies by providing
training, case management guidance
and investigative support like publicizing
missing children cases. It also
administers the state’s Missing Child
Alerts, which are activated when a case
involving a missing child under the age
of 21 doesn’t meet AMBER Alert criteria.
The judges unanimously chose
Chakraborty’s poster and assessed each
submission without knowing the students’
names or schools. Judges included
DCJS Executive Deputy Commissioner
Michael C. Green; Ellen DeChiro, an
investigator with the special victim’s unit
of the New York State Police; and Matt
Frear, whose teenage brother Craig disappeared
from Schenectady County in 2004.
“Th is year’s contest, more than any
before it, was very diffi cult to judge due
to the thought, creativity and high quality
of work these students put into their
posters,” Commissioner Green said. “In
the end, this was a very diffi cult choice
to make and all of these young students
deserve recognition for their eff ort to
raise awareness for missing children.”
Last year, New Jersey resident Pedro
Hernandez was convicted in connection
with the kidnapping and murder of Patz
and sentenced to life in prison.
Saranika’s winning entry and all other
posters submitted to the contest will
be displayed at the Empire State Plaza
Concourse in Albany during the week
of May 21, to coincide with Missing
Children’s Day.
New York’s contest also featured second
and third-place winners: Jason Rowe
from Elba Central School in Genesee
County came in second and Hannah
Hollenbeck from Howard A. Hanlon
Elementary School in Odessa was third.
Later this month, the National Missing
Children’s Day contest will be judged and
Chakraborty’s poster is qualifi ed to win.
Th e winning poster will be used to promote
Missing Children’s Day nationwide.
Th ere were 17,114 children reported
missing across New York in 2017, and the
majority of them were reported by police as
runaways. Most of these children returned
home last year, but more than 2,000 missing
children cases remain unresolved.
Drawing by Saranika Chakraborty
Saranika Chakraborty, who attends school in
Elmhurst, won the New York Missing Children’s
Day Poster Contest.
Photo courtesy of CityHarvest
Teo Ramirez (left) and fellow driver Donte
Moore
Photo by Emil Cohen
/www.cit-yharvest.org
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