Denise Heckleman, a Mineola resident, was honored by the Mineola Board of Trustees at last Wednesday’s meeting for her second annual #friendswhogive fundraiser.
“While I am here being recognized, I am just the venue,” Heckleman said. “It is the generosity of the people in the community, Mineola, Williston Park and Albertson, that make friends who give work.”
The weekend after Thanksgiving, members of the community bring toys and money to Heckleman’s home to donate to local children in need.
Over the past two years the fundraiser has brought in $3,000 in cash and gift cards, as well as boxes of toys, Heckleman said.
The gifts are distributed between kids at Meadow Street School, Hampton Street School and St. Aidan school. Other good and funds were also donated to The Children’s Greenhouse mentoring program at Nassau Community College, Heckleman said.
“It should feel good to give and thats what i wanted to teach my children,” Heckleman said. “I tell them all the time we were put on this earth to do good things.”
The idea for the fundraiser came about when Heckleman was tired of her children asking for money to buy their friends gifts that would be appreciated for five minutes and then tossed in a corner, Heckleman previously told Blank Slate Media.
Heckleman reached out to parents on Facebook to see if they had similar frustrations, she said.
Finding a pattern among local parents, Heckleman put on a successful event two years in a row that has not only helped children in need but also taught kids a valuable lesson.
“All of us together seeking to teach our children that giving is rewarding made friends who give work,” Hekcleman said.
It is stories like Heckleman’s, Mineola Mayor Scott Strauss said, that “make us all appreciate what we have.”
“I can not thank you enough for doing this,” Strauss said. “I hope people watching at home or that read [about this] in the local paper get inspired by your actions in giving with the holiday spirit.”
Hecklman said she hopes #friendswhogive grows and continues to “touch more children that need our help.”
She added that she hopes to see “many of you in my driveway the weekend after Thanksgiving next year.”
Also during the meeting, the board unanimously voted to approve a request made by Peggy Chan at the Nov.10 meeting to open a social adult day care center in Mineola.
The center, called Happy Hearts, will be located at 52 Jericho Turnpike.
