Community Corner
10 Heartwarming Stories From 2010
Feel-good stories to lift even the most weary of spirits
Sometimes journalism is a calling. At other times, it's an intractable, frustrating and all-consuming profession.
And then there are the times when reporting, writing and editing for a news source like Little Neck Patch can be called only one thing: a privilege.
So in no particular order, here are the top ten feel-good stories from 2010 that this local editor is proud to have had a hand in:
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1. 'Basketball Buddies' Helps Kids With Autism, Nov. 9. In one of Little Neck Patch's first stories, we profiled at Samuel Field Y pairing children with autistic spectrum disorders with area teens — young volunteers that belie the notion that the next generation is a self-obsessed, technology crazy, Justin Bieber-loving bookend to the American Century.
2. Toy Drive Marks End Of Carrozza's Tenure, Dec. 15. When a reporter asked outgoing Assemblywoman Ann-Margaret Carrozza, D-Bayside, to look back at the last few months of her 14-year tenure, she spoke not in terms of legislative accomplishments or committee posts, but of a different kind of fundraising. In an interview, Carrozza proudly boasted that her for needy youngsters netted more gifts than any other before it. "It's an absolutely record breaking year, which is great because there are so many families in need in the area," she said.
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3. A Native Son Steps Up For Community, Nov. 23. To do a good deed, Tielis Landscaping owner Erik Tielis needed only look across the street from the house where he grew up. As a volunteer, Tielis not only helped construct new pathways in Udalls Cove Park, but when a June 24 thunderstorm felled dozens of trees, he again to donate his landscaping services to free the preserve of fallen trunks, limbs and branches. When asked how it felt to help a community in need, Tielis replied: "It's no big deal."
4. Longtime Customers Say Farewell To Scobee Diner, Nov. 28. Yes, a made it onto the "feel-good" list. And for good reason. While this editor had a last cup of coffee (which the waiter insisted be on the house), he saw boundaries that usually so stiffly separate owners from workers from customers completely evaporate. Longtime patron Terri Barghan called her waiter by name while Scobee co-owner Gus Xikis looked on — all united by sadness over the demise of a neighborhood institution.
5. Holiday Spirit Alive And Well At Area Christmas Fair, Dec. 5. It was the first really cold week of the autumn/winter season, but the inside Father Smith Hall at Divine Wisdom Academy was toasty warm. And it wasn't all due to the Catholic school building's gigantic heating plant. At the event, students, parents and other community members came together to celebrate an annual holiday tradition and, in the process, help a community treasure continue well into the New Year. And let's not forget the hour-long appearance by Santa. What's more "feel-good" than that?
6. Christmas 'Miracle' Delivered With Compromise On 9-11 Healthcare Bill, Dec. 22. Even a political veteran such as Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., thought this bill a lost cause as late as the morning of Dec. 22 — another victim to partisan stalemate in a poisoned post-election political environment. However, a later that day cleared the way for passage of this legislation securing millions of dollars in healthcare funding for first responders sickened in the wake of the 9-11 terrorist attacks — a deal Schumer's Senate colleague Kirsten Gillibrand called a "Christmas Miracle."
7. Courage On Display As Officers Honored For Car Theft Arrests, Dec. 8. On a dark Little Neck street in the wee hours, 111th Precinct Officers Brian Corso and Billy Tsiovas did the opposite of what most regular citizens would do. Corso and Tsiovas saw two men trying to break into a car and gave chase as the suspects bolted down the street. The persistence of their efforts, which eventually helped nab the suspects after a ground and aerial search, earned them the Precinct's "" designation for keeping the peace and protecting the property of Little Neck residents.
8. Art Comes Alive At Samuel Field Y, Dec. 10. In the second Sam Field Y "happening "to make the list, a visitor from one of the world's most prestigious cultural institutions made a trip out to Little Neck to share with adults suffering from Alzheimer's disease. With Amanda Williams, a museum educator with the Museum of Modern Art's Community Access Program, at the lead, the full power of art to pierce through even a debilitating illness like Alzheimer's was on full display.
9. Street Talk: Favorite Holiday Traditions, Dec. 16. One of the first rules of journalism is to expect the unexpected. So when freelancer Patrick Conti went to Douglaston Long Island Railroad station earlier this month with his video camera to get a sense of the area's , he wasn't counting on a story like that of Rosette Besman. With profound dignity, she spoke of how her favorite tradition, the Seder, had a "double-meaning" for her: "I escaped, I crossed my Red Sea by getting out in '42, just in time... because my grandmother died in Auschwitz."
10. Douglaston Brothers Deliver Baby During Blizzard, Dec. 28. This one comes courtesy of Douglaston Patch, about two trained EMTs, a baby and a whole lot of chutzpah. As the snow flied, Joseph, 20, and Frank Pollicino, 23, both volunteers with the Little Neck-Douglaston Ambulance Corps, helped a Bayside mother through a complicated breech birth process. And in a lesson for all brothers, the Pollicanos credited teamwork for the successful delivery: "I wouldn't have been able to do it by myself. My brother was very helpful," Joseph Pollicano said.
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