FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM APRIL 26, 2018 • BUZZ • THE QUEENS COURIER 55
IT COM 2018 BUZZ COURIER55
’S
Bursting with Pride
Proud mother with my daughter Samantha; Janet Koch, CEO of Life’s WORC; and co-honoree Lynn Koufakis
she finds time to be her childrens’
class mother and co-president of
the PTA, and create dinner parties
for all our holiday dinners, serving
over 25 people with aplomb,
warmth and ease.
Life’s WORC is the organization
I co-founded in 1971 and
each year for over two decades
we have raised much needed
funds at the Geraldo Rivera golf
outing. Samantha came up with
the idea to add an ingredient to
the powerful fundraiser, a card/
mahjong luncheon party at the
outing for non-golfers while the
golfers are playing the course.
Thanks to her efforts, we raised
thousands of much needed dollars
at the luncheon and gained
new friends to the cause.
So when she was nominated to
receive recognition for her years
of giving back, I was thrilled and
touched.
She spoke powerfully of keeping
the torch lit for every child
to receive the services he or she
needs to flourish.
I loved how she shared that the
needs of families whose children
are in the autism spectrum are
being served by Life’s WORC’s
Family Center For Autism. She
spoke of how the organization
and its staffers are there to make
sure all the children that are
served are allowed to grow to
their greatest potential and to
make sure, as well, that their parents
help them cope.
My daughter is the future and
she is keeping the torch shining
and all the families in desperate
need of quality services for their
children.
Guardians of the cause gathered
Autism and I’m delighted to have
met Jennifer Polansky, editor in
chief of Woodbury magazine, who
has created the glamorous, enormously
fundraisers for 15 years, donating
spectrum. What a blessing she is!
The future for people with special
many more lights to show the
way. The battle has no end -- we
must persevere and make this
world a better place for them.
I’m bursting with pride that
Samantha is helping to lead the
way….
her choice of a career.
Samantha works part time at
Young Adult Institute (YAI) and
double time as a mother of my
dearest grandchildren Blake and
Morgan and wife to her devoted,
supportive husband, Spencer.
Somehow, amidst her overflowing
responsibilities,
Honors for Claire Shulman (center) for her nursing days at Adelphi University College of Nursing. She is pictured with
(from left to right) Chelsea Wollman , Dr. Marilyn Klainberg, Dr. Deborah Ambrosio and Kathleen Dooney
DYNAMIC DENTAL WORK
���������������� Dr. Adam Lublin is an Elite Top 1% Preferred Provider
VICTORIA’S
SECRETS
ETS
Victoria
SCHNEPS-
YUNIS
vschneps@gmail.com
tweet me @vschneps
m
“How do I love you? Let me
count the ways” is how I began
my introduction of my daughter
Samantha who was receiving
the Woodbury Ball for Autism
annual Community Leadership
Award at the historic Sands
Point Preserve mansion/castle.
Samantha has always been a
giving, caring person and I’m
sure she decided to get her master’s
degree in social work from
Columbia in part because of her
oldest sister Lara, who was brain
damaged in the baby nursery
hours after her birth and was
developmentally a three-monthold
for her 17 years on earth.
Lara changed all our lives and
I’m sure influenced Samantha in
grandchildren receive support services to
brightly. How blessed am I
at the Woodbury Ball for
successful packed-house
all the money raised to agencies
serving people in the autism
needs offers new hope with
������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
link
