LAST CHANCE TO CATCH THE IRONDALE ENSEMBLE PROJECT’S inaugural production in its new home — that would be Peter Pan, the true-to-the-novel, darker-than-Disney version, ingeniously staged by an ensemble cast and director JIM NIESEN — in the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church building. One supreme highlight: the croc. You’ve never seen a thespian reptile with quite so much stage presence and guile, so thoughtfully crafted. A word of warning: leave the under-tens at home. This is a show for the “grrroh-n ups.” Through Nov. 8.
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LONNIE QUINN, CBS NEWS’ WEATHERCASTER, will MC the program at Cobble Hill Health Center’s Annual Fall Gala Nov. 12 at Steiner Studios/Stage 6 in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. SIGNY COLEMAN, actress on “The Young and the Restless” and “Law and Order,” will present the Corporate Partnership Award to MAUREEN HENEGAN, president of Henegan Construction Company. Henegan was chosen as the contractor for the more than $65 million interior gut renovation of the 150-year-old landmark building.
Dr. CIRIL GODEC of Long Island College Hospital will receive the Medical Achievement Award in recognition of his decades-long dedicated service to Cobble Hill’s patients. New York Cares, a nonprofit organization that (among other people and places) sends volunteers from corporate America into the Health Center to provide enriched programming for residents, will receive the Community Service Award. Proceeds of the event will go to benefit cultural programs for the frail elderly and disabled adults Cobble Hill Health Center serves.
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A GROUP OF STUDENTS FROM St. John’s University is working to help the poor and homeless cast their vote in November — and to set them straight about their rights as voters, despite what they may hear about their ineligibility.
The students, all from St. John’s Ozanam Scholars program, are working at St. John’s Bread and Life, New York’s largest emergency food provider, located in Bed-Stuy. (St. John’s University is a sponsor of the soup kitchen.)
“Beyond registration, the group has a series of Power Point presentations with information and music that stirs individuals and empowers them,” said group member ROB MARROCCO, 18, a freshman in the Ozanam program. “Seeing people become interested in the process through our efforts has been incredibly rewarding,” said Marrocco, who did much of the group’s research on voters’ rights in NYC. He and his classmates have been working on the voter registration project since early September. Marrocco and the others, MICHAEL PANICO, EUGENIA SOLDATOS, GABRIELLA BONVENTRE, JOHN WILSON, JERRY CHEN, VICTORIA GANDER and HELENA RODRIGUEZ, began work when they realized that the poor and working poor are often too pressed to register. The scholars obtained voter-registration cards from their local post office and began handing them out to soup kitchen guests during breakfast and lunch service. They have registered more than 75 individuals so far.
“The look of empowerment on the faces of our guests has been awesome,” said Panico, also a freshman. The voter registration project is one of many projects on which the Ozanam Scholars and Bread and Life are working together.
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DOMINICK STANZIONE, INTERIM PRESIDENT at Long Island College Hospital (LICH), was recently a guest of ALYCE BARR, principal of the Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies (BSCS) in Carroll Gardens. Stanzione participated in PENCIL’s 14th annual Principal for a Day event, which serves as the official launch for its Partnership Program. Every year, the non-profit organization PENCIL strives to create and then support hundreds of long-term relationships between principals and business leaders to “transform NYC public schools.”
Stanzione was given a tour of the school, and he and Barr discussed ways in which the hospital and the school could continue their collaboration throughout the school year. Among those projects are a mentoring program, a book drive, volunteer opportunities and guest speakers.
“Strengthening community relationships is of primacy importance to LICH,” says Stanzione. “We look forward to working with BSCS throughout the school year.”
For more information on PENCIL’s Partnership Program, visit www.pencil. org.
Photo courtesy of OffOffOnline.com
