Walk for Great Neck Student Aid Fund deemed ‘a great success’

Janelle Clausen
Politicians, residents and organizers gathered in Great Neck Plaza to walk for education on Sunday morning. (Photo courtesy of the Great Neck Student Aid Fund)
Politicians, residents and organizers gathered in Great Neck Plaza to walk for education on Sunday morning. (Photo courtesy of the Great Neck Student Aid Fund)

The Great Neck Student Aid Fund hosted its first fundraising walk for education on Sunday, drawing dozens of walkers and raising about $5,000 to help support scholarships for students who need financial help.

Organizers said around 75 people registered for the walk and that 60 people participated, including former beneficiaries like lawyer Michael Weinstock, local fire department volunteers and local politicians like Town Councilwoman Anna Kaplan, Assemblyman Anthony D’Urso and county Legislator Ellen Birnbaum.

Michael Weinstock, who was able to attend college because of the Great Neck Student Aid Fund, is pictured with Jill Monoson and Elise Kestenbaum. (Photo courtesy of the Great Neck Student Aid Fund)
Michael Weinstock, who was able to attend college because of the Great Neck Student Aid Fund, is pictured with Jill Monoson and Elise Kestenbaum. (Photo courtesy of the Great Neck Student Aid Fund)

“It was a great success,” Jill Monoson, who helped organize the walk, said on Tuesday.

Elise Kestenbaum, president of the Great Neck Student Aid Fund, said “every cent” raised goes toward students because there’s “a real need.” She said there are many students who, without financial support, would not be able to pursue higher education.

“The costs of college are so high and an education is so important for these young people and to be able to help them so that they could have that sort of life is really important to us,” Kestenbaum said.

Since its founding in 1931, the Great Neck-based nonprofit group has provided funds to hundreds of Great Neck school district residents so they can attend college.

Walkers received free bags for participating. (Photo courtesy of the Great Neck Student Aid Fund)
Walkers received free bags for participating. (Photo courtesy of the Great Neck Student Aid Fund)

The walk itself aimed to raise money and awareness about the program, as well as inform the community that there are many children in need of money to attend college or vocational school. Participants received free stringed bags, while the fund received citations from D’Urso and Birnbaum.

Kestenbaum said the walk would not have gone so well without the help of Great Neck Plaza and its mayor, Jean Celender.

“Mayor Celender was kind enough to let us begin and end at the courthouse at Great Neck Plaza and she was intimately involved,” Kestenbaum said. “She set up the walk for us, how we would walk, she helped us get the police involved, and she did it because she feels her initiative is also education and health and she wants to support us for our community.”

Kestenbaum and Monoson said they intend to host another walk next year and participate in a competition with the Champions of Charity organization in late November.

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