Archives for 2019

If you know of any fundraising events in Staten Island or for Staten Island-based charity organizations, please email us at jcintron@siparent-com.go-vip.net, with the subject line “fundraisers,” and we will add it to the list.

Ocean Breeze’s Loving Lemons
When: Friday, September 1, 2017 – 12:01am to Saturday, September 30, 2017 – 11:59pm
Where: Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex • 625 Father Capodanno Blvd.
Charity Organization: Alex’s Lemonade Stand
Click here for more information.

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Out of the Darkness Community Walk
When: Sunday, October 1 • 9am check-in; 10am walk begins
Where: Clove Lakes Park • 1150 Clove Road
Charity Organization: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
Click here for more information.

Walk for Dyslexia
When: Sunday, October 1 • 11am-3pm
Where: Wolfe’s Pond Park • 420 Cornelia Ave
Charity Organization: Wishes of Literacy, Inc.
Click here for more information.

JDRF One Walk
When: Sunday, October 1 • 8:30am check-in; 10am start
Where:College of Staten Island • 2800 Victory Blvd.
Charity Organization: JDRF (to find a cure for type 1 diabetes)
Click here for more information.

Light the Night Walk
When: Saturday, October 7 • 5:30pm
Where: Midland Beach Promenade • Father Capodanno Blvd. & Lincoln Avenue.
Charity Organization: Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
Click here for more information.

Pineapples for the Cure
When: Saturday, October 7 • 4-6pm
Where: Painting with a Twist • 2271 Hylan Blvd.
Charity Organization/Cause: Breast Cancer
Click here for more information.

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Walk to End Alzheimer’s
When: Saturday, October 14 • 9am registration; 9:45am ceremony; 10:15am walk begins
Where: Clove Lakes Park •  1150 Clove Road
Charity Organization: Alzheimer’s Association
Click here for more information.

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer
When: Sunday, October 15 • 8am registration; 10am walk begins
Where: Midland Beach • Father Capodanno Blvd. & Iona St.
Charity Organization: American Cancer Society
Click here for more information.

Walk Now for Autism Speaks
When: Sunday, October 22
Where: The College of Staten Island • 2800 Victory Blvd.
Charity Organization: Autism Speaks
Click here for more information.

Annual Bowling Against Breast Cancer Bowl-A-Thon
When:  Sunday, October 22 • 1pm – 3:30pm
Where: Rab’s Country Lanes • 1600 Hylan Boulevard
Charity Organization: American Cancer Society
Click here for more information.

Halloween Hustle
When: Saturday, October 28 • 9am 5k run; 10am walk
Where: Midland Beach •  Father Capodanno Blvd.
Charity Organization: Michael’s Cause (fighting Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy)
Click here for more information.

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Halloween Costume Run/Walk
When: Sunday, October 29 • 9am
Where: Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex • 625 Father Capodanno Blvd.
Charity Organization:Richmond Rockets Scholarship Fund
Click here for more information.

Sorry, the following events have passed. Check back next year!

Staten Island Speaks Up! Walk for Apraxia
When: Saturday, September 16
Where: Clove Lakes Park • 1150 Clove Road
Charity Organization: Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America
Click here for more information.

Walk Like MADD
When: Sunday, September 17 • 9am-1pm
Where: Clove Lakes Park • 1150 Clove Road
Charity Organization: MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving)
Click here for more information.

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“What Sportsmanship Means to Me”

Have you witnessed, or been a part of, an act of good sportsmanship? Have you ever wondered why acts of good sportsmanship are sometimes remembered long after the score of the game is forgotten? Have you ever acted like a poor sport, and regretted it later?

New York Sports Connection, the hub for youth sports information in New York City, will award top prizes of up to $500 to the the best original, never-before-published essays that promote sportsmanship and fair play in several age groups! Additional prizes may be awarded to runners-up depending on the number of entries received.

WHO CAN ENTER: Authors must be between 12 and 18 years of age as of April 30, 2015, and a legal resident of one of the five boroughs of New York City (Brooklyn, The Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, or Staten Island.) Only one entry may be submitted per author. For essays authored by someone under 18, a parent or guardian must fill out the contest entry form and upload the essay (but it still has to be written by the child!) Authors who are 18 years of age, can fill out the contest entry form and submit their own essays. Parents & Guardians: If you are entering on behalf of more than one child under 18, please fill out a separate entry for each child. Please read the complete rules for detailed instructions.

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WHAT TO WRITE: Authors should write an original essay between 400 and 500 words about, “What Sportsmanship Means To Me.” If an author can share a true story of good sportsmanship that he or she has observed or been a part of, that’s great, but it’s not required.

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HOW TO FORMAT: Submit essays in 12-point font with the author’s name, age, grade, school and contact details (of person who submitted the essay) printed at the top. Files must be named with the first and last name of the author and the contest name. For example, “John-Doe-2015 Essay Contest.”

HOW ESSAYS WILL BE JUDGED: Essays will be judged on the basis of use of the theme (30%); originality (10%); grammar and spelling (20%); emotional appeal (10%) and writing skills appropriate for the author’s age (10%). The judging panel will include WFAN Radio personality, Craig Carton, and former NY Mets pitcher, John Franco. Franco is a Founding Partner of NYC All Star Sports Group, a Sports Marketing and Events company dedicated to building sports at all levels in the Five Boroughs.

THE ENTRY DEADLINE IS APRIL 30, 2015

CLICK HERE TO ENTER

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The New York Conference of Italian-American State Legislators is now accepting applications for four $2,500 academic and athletic scholarships for future or existing college students.

“With the high expenses of college, students should take advantage of every opportunity to offset the costs.  I’m hopeful that students across Staten Island will apply for the awards.  Nothing would make me more proud than to have our residents be selected to receive one of the scholarships.” said Senator Andrew Lanza.

Applicants will be judged based upon grade point average, interest in pursuing a higher education, involvement in the local community, as well as individual financial need. Applicants need not be of Italian-American heritage to apply.

The deadline for filing is Monday, April 27th. Scholarships are scheduled to be awarded at the Conference’s Annual Legislative Conference Day in June.

The Conference is a bipartisan organization of New York State Assembly and Senate members who are actively involved in promoting and celebrating the state’s Italian-American community. The Conference mission is to work hard to elevate and highlight Italian-American contributions to the State of New York and beyond, in all aspects of society, including literature, the arts, architecture and politics.

Click here to link to the Senator Lanza’s website, where you can download both academic and athletic scholarship applications.

“I think that I shall never meet / A poem lovely as a Tweet…”

Who knows? If he had been around today, perhaps that’s what Joyce Kilmer would have scribbled in his notebook (or typed on his smartphone). Instead, we can only imagine Kilmer’s attempts at composing verse on Twitter – and give it our own shot.

To celebrate National Poetry Month, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs (@NYCulture) is hosting the sixth annual #PoetweetNYC Twitter poetry contest from April 6 to April 13, 2015, and the winners will be published in Metro New York on Poem In Your Pocket Day – April 30, 2015.

Last year, New York City’s First Lady Chirlane McCray selected the winning #PoetweetNYC entries. For your own chance at digital bard-dom, tweet your own original verse!

Click here to read the full #PoetweetNYC contest rules

Click here to visit the #PoetweetNYC contest website

Here are last year’s winning Tweets:

March 2 is Read Across America Day in honor of the great Dr. Seuss’ birthday. Celebrate with your kids all month long with some fun crafts, recipes, and printables.

The Lorax Paper Plate Craft

What You’ll Need:
Paper Plate
Orange Paint
Large Googly Eyes
Orange Pom-Pom
Yellow Construction Paper
Paint Brush
Glue
Scissors

Directions:
1. Paint the paper plate with the orange paint.
2. After the paint dries, glue on the googly eyes and orange pom-pom for the nose.
3. Fold the yellow construction paper in half and trace your child’s hand.
4. Have your child cut the traced hand out of the construction paper. If your child is just learning how to use scissors, he or she may need hand-over-hand help.
5.Unfold the paper and glue the hand onto the paper plate for the mustache.
6. Cut two ovals out of the yellow construction paper.
7. Cut small, thin slits on one end of each oval and bend them up and down.
8. Glue the ovals above the googly eyes for the eye brows.

From RaisingLittleSuperHeroes.com

 

The Cat’s Hat Kabobs

What You’ll Need:
For cheesy veggie kabobs: grape tomatoes or red bell pepper with mozzarella cheese or Monterey Jack
For fruit kabobs: strawberry or watermelon with banana or apple (peeled)
For desert kabobs: circular red gummy candies or red licorice wheels with marshmallows (regular or mini, depending on the size of your candy)
bamboo or plastic skewers

Directions:
1. Prepare fruits and vegetables by washing, peel apples or bananas, and cut watermelon from rind.
2. To make a tidy topper, you need to cut foods into circles before you stack them on skewers. Try to create circles or slices of similar diameter and thickness. When adding food to skewers, copy the Cat’s hat—always start with white and end with red.
3. For cheesy veggie kabobs, if you don’t have a small round cookie cutter, try improvising one by pressing a clean plastic lid from a milk jug or a slightly smaller lid from another bottle into modest slices of cheese. Simply slice grape tomatoes and alternate with the cheese on the skewer. Or use red pepper circles that you’ve cut from a quartered and seeded pepper.
4. Alternate strawberry and banana slices to make the fruit kabob. Or substitute circular cut watermelon and peeled apple for a crisp and juicy kabob. Brush banana or apple pieces with lemon juice to keep them from turning brown.
5. Desert kabobs are a sweet chewy treat and should be stacked a little shorter. Use your choice of red candy and alternate with marshmallows. You may want to use clean kitchen shears to cut large marshmallows in half or flatten mini marshmallows to achieve diameters and thicknesses similar to your candy.
6. If your Hat Kabobs are party fare, consider covering the sweet skewer of candy on the desert kabob with clear plastic and tie with a red bow for a take home treat!

Click here for some more fun recipes from Seussville.com!

Puppet Party

What you’ll need:
white plastic spoons and forks
scraps of paper, cardboard from the recycling bin
small plastic lids, bottle caps and other small interesting pieces of plastic from the recycling bin
bits of yarn, ribbon, and fabric
colored tapes (optional)
fluffy chenille stems (optional)
permanent markers
scissors, glue and tape
books by Dr. Seuss

Directions:
1. Kids will quickly get the idea of how to create a cast of Dr. Seuss characters from plastic silverware if you show them an example of a finished puppet. Create a quick Thing 1 by drawing a face on the back of a spoon with a permanent marker. Glue some bits of blue yarn around the bowl rim of the spoon and wrap the handle in red tape. Cut a small circle of white paper, write a number “1” on it and tape it to the puppet. Twist a fluffy red chenille stem around the spoon to create arms and give your puppet means to hold small props if you wish.
2. Then, with books by Dr. Seuss open for inspiration, have kids make their own puppets! Have them draw faces on the backs of clean plastic spoons or forks using a permanent marker. Then kids can draw and cut out hats, hair, horns and other accessories from scraps of paper, make bows and clothes from ribbons and fabric, and even add torsos and limbs using additional flatware, pieces of plastic from the recycling bin or chenille stems. Give them plenty of time to assemble and glue their creations.
3. While glue is drying, turn kids’ attention back Dr. Seuss’s books. Read aloud or have them read together so that later they can retell the story with a puppet show!

Click here for some more awesome Dr. Seuss crafts from Seussville.com!

Click here for some cool printables from Seussville.com!

Some quotable quotes by Dr. Seuss:
“Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is youer than you!”

“Be who you are and say what you mean. Because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go!”

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”

“You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.”

“A person’s a person, no matter how small.”

“Maybe Christmas…he thought..doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas… perhaps… means a little bit more!”

“Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!”

“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?”

“Oh the things you will find if you don’t stay behind!”

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.”

“If you never did you should. These things are fun and fun is good.”