20 THE COURIER SUN • march 19, 2015 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIt www.couriersun.com Kiwanis koalas to ‘tie knot’ at ‘beary’ sweet Maspeth fundraiser Holy Cross Student Breaks (Pi) Day Record Photo: Kurt Gollerstepper (center) winner of the Pi digit contest at Holy Cross High School with record breaking 506 digits flanked by Kevin Rivera, 2nd Place (302 digits) and John Flynn ‘15, 3rd Place (210 digits). Holy Cross students celebrated National Pi Day on Friday, March 13, 2015 with a competition to see who could recite from memory the most digits of this infinite number that expresses the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle. Pi, the 16th letter of the Greek alphabet, is represented by the symbol . Since it is a constant, the numerical value of Pi is typically rounded off to 3.14159, hence March 14th is considered Pi Day. The concept of Pi has been explored throughout history from biblical times to the present and its value has been calculated to over 51 billion decimal places. This symbol has spawned t-shirts, movies, books, fan clubs and even websites with chat rooms. There are numerous tips on how to memorize the digits and those who do are ranked according to the number of digits they can recall. The winner of the Pi contest at Holy Cross was senior Kurt Gollerstepper who broke the existing record of 500 digits with 506 digits memorized. Freshman Kevin Rivera placed second with 302 digits and senior John Flynne placed third with 210 digits. ADVERTORIAL Douglaston/Little Neck Library’s Women’s History Lecture Ann Juliano Jawin, Founder and Chair of the Center for Women in New York (pictured fourth from right) presented a lecture on the history of the “second wave” of the women’s liberation struggle on March 13th at the Douglaston/ Little Neck Community Library. Ms. Jawin first gave a brief overview of the history of the “first wave” of the women’s movement in the United States, beginning with the 1848 Seneca Falls (NY) Women’s Rights Convention; the work of early activists such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony; the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920, giving all U.S. women the right to vote; and the participation of women in the U.S. workforce before and during World War II. She then talked at length about the post-World War II “second wave” of the women’s liberation struggle to the present day, both in the U.S. and abroad. Finally, Ms. Jawin also discussed the work of her organization, now in its 28th year, in the areas of pay equity, domestic violence, education, etc., as well as the Center’s new landmark building in historic Fort Totten Park. The program concluded with a lively question-and-answer session. The event was sponsored by the Friends of the Douglaston/Little Neck Community Library in conjunction with the Center for Women in New York (www.cwny.org) as part of Women’s History Month. The Douglaston/Little Neck Community Library is creating a special collection of books and other materials on local women’s history and culture. For more information, contact: Community Library Manager Ron Wan; Assistant Community Library Manager Tina Holinski; or Friends of the Douglaston/Little Neck Community Library’s President Arline Abdalian, 249-01 Northern Boulevard, Little Neck, NY 11363, (718) 225-8414, www.queenslibrary.org/Douglaston ADVERTORIAL Photo courtesy of J.P. DiTroia Lieutenant Governor of Kiwanis Queens West, J.P. DiTroia holding the groom-to-be Kiwally and first lady Tina DiTroia holding the bride-to-be Kiwanna. BY ANTHONY GIUDICE a.giudice@timesnewsweekly.com @A_GiudiceReport Kiwanis Queens West is hosting a special “mascot wedding” fundraiser to support the Eliminate Project, which hopes to end maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT) by providing immunization shots to mothers and infants in need. The fundraiser will take place at O’Neill’s Restaurant in Maspeth on Saturday, March 21. “Our Kiwanis members of Queens West are fun-loving and have very big hearts,” said Lieutenant Governor of Kiwanis Queens West J.P. DiTroia. “We are hoping to draw 50 or more attendees since all the net proceeds will go to Project Eliminate to save babies.” The theme of the evening’s fundraiser will be the wedding of the Kiwanis Queens West mascot, Kiwally the Kiwanian, and his girlfriend Kiwanna, both stuffed koala bear dolls. There is a $65 donation that includes dinner and entertainment at the event, with all proceeds going to the Eliminate Project. “I always set my goals high. If we raise $2,000 It would be great. But we would be happy with $1,000 as well,” DiTroia said of the fundraiser. “That would save 500 babies since it costs $2 to give a baby the shot for tetanus.” Each year, an estimated 60,000 babies and a large number of women die from this disease. The disease causes the newborns to have repeated, painful convulsions and extreme sensitivity to light and touch. “That’s what Kiwanis does with UNICEF, they get the babies the needed shot to protect them,” DiTroia said. In order to stop MNT, over 100 million mothers and their children must be immunized. That will require vaccines, syringes, safe storage, transportation, the services of skilled staff and much more. To do this, “Kiwanis International has set a goal to raise $110 million in five years. We are in our fifth year and internationally, we…have raised over $72 million,” DiTroia explained. “In our New York State Kiwanis District we have raised over $1 million, and in my great district Queens West Kiwanis, of which I am the proud lieutenant governor, we have raised over $32,000, and that is in addition to all the other worthy projects that our 17 Kiwanis clubs perform for the communities that they live in.” For more information on Project Eliminate, visit http://sites.kiwanis.org/ Kiwanis/en/theELIMINATEproject/ home.aspx.
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