On Sunday, Dec. 8, Sephardic Heritage Alliance, Inc. (SHAI) hosted its 5th annual winter coat and clothing drive to benefit the Great Neck Public Schools clothing pantries. This year the weather was temperate.
The donors to the drop-off event came from across the peninsula and were generous as in years before. The contributions will be distributed at an upcoming event to be coordinated by wonderful administration, social workers and staff who volunteer to staff the Clothing Pantry at the Saddle Rock elementary school.
This year, SHAI Board members ran a receiving line sorting donations as donors drove by.
Thanks are extended to Joseph Amirian, Monika Amirian, Mike Delafraz, Dr. Behnam Kohanim, Rebecca Harounian, Emma Sassouni, Rebecca Sassouni and Shahruz Shahery for making the drive a wonderful success.
SHAI is a local not for profit 501c(3) organization whose mission is to assist the acculturative needs of the Persian Jewish community and its neighbors. These include assisting with merit based and need based scholarships.
SHAI is also the largest not for profit donor to the Town of North Hempstead Social Center in order to support seniors aging in place. SHAI coordinates programming for people of all ages by partnering with other local not-for-profits, synagogues, agencies, libraries, schools and municipalities across the region.
Prior to its partnership with the Great Neck Public Schools, SHAI had collected clothes for other agencies and philanthropies in the past. Since election to the Great Neck Public Schools Board of Education, SHAI’s officer and past president Rebecca Yousefzadeh Sassouni became increasingly concerned by the high degree of local food and clothing insecurity and shared this with SHAI’s Board of Trustees.
SHAI’s Board has overwhelmingly supported partnering with local schools for many years. Even during the COVID pandemic, SHAI collected clothing for the Great Neck Public Schools and also donated masks to aid kitchen workers when these were in short supply.
SHAI has also partnered to arrange annual educational forums with the schools on topics of interest to the community.
SHAI’s Board consists entirely of volunteers and functions as a welcoming nondenominational Persian Jewish Community Center without walls.
To learn more, or to donate, please visit www.shaiusa.org.
