As one of our major projects of the year, our Club has donated 12 laptops to a school to help students there with remote learning. The nearly $5,000 project was funded in part by a District grant, while the club component of $2,500 was donated by Club member Mohammed Saleh. The pandemic has closed down schools in our region and many have moved to online classes. While this has helped some students continue their education, many students from low-income families have been left out because they do not have access to computers and internet connections required for remote education. Therefore there is a great need to provide these young learners with the resources necessary for them to keep up with their more fortunate fellow students. Therefore the Club decided to undertake this project to help address at least a part of the need.
The 12 Chromebooks are for students at Longwood School District but will remain the property of the School District. Each student assigned one of these devices will use it for the School year and return it to the School at the end of the academic year. At the beginning of the next year, another batch of students meeting the criteria will be assigned these devices. The Longwood School District was identified as the Project target District because it is a diverse District of 9,200 students with 52% in the free lunch program, and many sub-continent-origin students. These Chromebooks will be given to students in K-4 grades whose parents' annual household income is less than $30,000. These Chromebooks were selected by the Scholl District to match the existing inventory of remote learning devices and have 5-year full replacement coverage. So in the 5-year lifecycle, they will have benefitted 60 students. The Project was completed within about three months.Dr. Sam Ahmed Director of Special Programs and Data Reporting of the School District coordinated the project on behalf of the School District. Dr. Ahmed made a presentation at a meeting of the Club in February. He said 350 students still do not have any remote learning capability because they do not have any computers.
Since the onset of the pandemic, our Club has undertaken a number of COVID relief projects. As part of "Project Hope-1" Club Members have been helping a widow and her two young sons in the Bronx meet their ongoing subsistence needs. Three Club members pooled their resources and began providing monthly assistance to the family for food and essentials. These members have pledged to continue their contribution for the near future. They are looking into ways to assist the family in creating a sustainable revenue stream so they do not become continually reliant on this assistance.
Club Member Dr. Nasrin Khan presented an online Seminar on Emotional Resilience - in the second online seminar organized by our Club. At the outset of the hour-long seminar, also simultaneously available via our Facebook Page, Dr. Khan was introduced by Club President S. Zaki Hossain. Dr. Khan is a Medical Specialist at Creedmore Psychiatric Center and completed her residency. at Brookdale University Hospital in Internal Medicine. Dr. Khan has long experience in Mental Health and rehabilitation, conflicts in personal relationships, and management of professional challenges. 
Winter always brings hard times to many people in many people in many countries that Rotary works in. This winter, in particular, many people are in greater need because of the pandemic. What we can do together is much greater than what we can do alone. Encouraged by that spirit, we partnered with a sister Club in Rotary District 3282 (Bangladesh) - the Rotary Club of Sylhet to arrange distribution of winter blankets for those who have no other way to fend off the cold weather,
Our Club participated in Rotary's "Million Mask Challenge", sponsored by Rotary International and The Rossi Foundation. On 14 January, a 26-foot truck, emblazoned on all sides with the Million Mask Challenge Tour message, brought 300,000 face masks to our Rotary District stopping at 3 distribution points - White Plains, Harlem and Staten Island. Our Club was allocated 6,000 surgical masks and 1,000 children's masks. 
An amazing partnership came together to bring food supplies to the children of Haiti. Our Club partnered with the Yonkers-East Yonkers Rotary Club to send urgently needed food supplies for children in Haiti. Club members Raaid Ahmad and Tabin Ahmad together with Honorary Member Lina Rahman and friend of Heritage Rotary Lubna Anwar provided donations of more than $850 to cover the cost of purchasing the food, supplies, barrels and shipment. Funds were also raised by the Yonkers Club and contributions from Century 21 Royal and UNM Bank help fund the project which totaled over $4,000. 
The next day Rotarians and other volunteers gathered at the Century 21 Royal office and packed all the supplies into 6 barrels for shipment to Haiti. The barrels will be delivered to the Rotary Club of Delmas-Centre in Port au Prince. They will be distributed through the Administrator of the Sainte Thérèse de L’Enfant Jésus’ School and Maria - one of the most reliable humanitarian groups in Haiti.
The Presidential Citation is awarded to a Club that achieves a set number of preassigned goals in two categories - Unite People and Take action - like membership growth and retention, service projects, contributions to the Rotary Foundation, augmenting Rotary's public image, among others., .Those Clubs achieving the goals in these two categories then compete for Platinum, Gold, or Silver Awards depending on the number of additional goals achieved in a third Category.
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