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HeritageNY Rotary e-Club was chartered January 2019.
Rotarians have a vision: “Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change — across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.”

Club Donates Laptops to School to Aid Remote Learning

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.

Club's Ongoing "COVID Relief Project Hope"

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.

And a few days ago at the onset of Ramadan, the Club initiated "Project Hope-2" to assist a new immigrant mother of three young children when her husband passed away very recently from COVID. Club members rallied to her rescue by providing immediate assistance for day-to-day needs. Other Club members are assisting the family in applying for any government relief she and her children may be entitled to.

Job loss, business closures, and food insecurity are bearing down on immigrant communities, creating untenable pressure inside households that are often crowded with more than one family and facing pressures to keep up with rent payments, utility bills, and basic needs. At the same time, parents who lack English language skills and the technology needed for remote learning are struggling to find the time and space to help their children complete assignments. And many immigrant students are tasked with caring for younger siblings or relatives while their parents go to work on the front lines of the pandemic

Multiple organizations report that as much as 75 percent of their clients are going hungry. Yet despite the mass-scale unemployment hitting the area’s immigrants, they have been almost entirely shut out of federal cash relief. Several of the nonprofit organizations surveyed said 95 to 100 percent of their immigrant clients have not received or are ineligible for the IRS stimulus checks.

Meanwhile, the pandemic has laid bare existing struggles with language and technology access for the city’s immigrants, which created barriers in access to care such as telemedicine and crisis hotlines. Those issues extend to families who have undertaken remote learning for their children. For undocumented immigrants, the city’s lowest earners despite high participation in the labor force, unemployment can be uniquely devastating, extending to tolls on physical and mental health.

Our projects aim not only to assist one or more families but also to create engagement among our members so they feel energized to come out and provide any assistance they can. These are our Rotarians in Action, providing Service Above Self. If any member is interested in joining in this project, please contact Rahat Hossain (Membership Engagement Chair).

Club Member Dr. Nasrin Khan presents online Seminar on Emotional Resilience

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.

Dr. Khan began by sharing a PowerPoint presentation and afterward responded to viewers' questions. She says she is a life coach and describes coaching as bringing "awareness in people especially in people of our culture. There is a misconception among people that life coach is for people with mental illness but not really. Life coach actually works with everyone. The coach is not the therapist, but is just a person who will make the relationship with the client and will make her or him comfortable to explore the strategies to reach his or her goal"

Dr. Khan emphasizes that "goals can be different for different clients. Someone might want to improve their health, someone their business, while others might want to improve their relationship either with romantic partners or with children or other relatives and friends. A major part of coaching is active listening. Coaches are trained to listen, observe and customize their approach to individual client needs. Life coaching is a powerful human relationship in which trained coaches assist people to design their future rather than get over their past." Through a typically long-term relationship, Dr. Khan says, "coaches aid clients in creating visions and goals for all aspects of their lives as well as multiple strategies to support achieving those goals. Coaches recognize the brilliance of each client and their personal power to discover their own solutions when provided with support, accountability, and unconditional positive regard". According to Dr. Khan, there are different phases of coaching. That’s why it is a long-term course. The first and most important part of coaching is listening. Active listening means the client has to feel heard.

Dr. Khan made it clear that coaching is not therapy so it’s not for mental patients. In fact, she says, "We all need to have a coach in different aspects of life". She saiys people should not feel embarrassed to reach out to her. She can assist people in reaching their goals and have peace and happiness in life which they are dreaming of their whole lives Here is how to contact her: nasrincoaching@gmail.com Read a recent article she wrote in WBH Journal

Club to provide COVID Vaccine Registration Assistance

It was reported at the Club meeting on 10 February that many citizens in our community are struggling with registration and scheduling for the COVID vaccine. Therefore, the Club has decided to provide assistance to citizens, especially seniors, with registration for the COVID vaccine.

We are collecting the following information about those in need of the COVID vaccine provided that they are willing to take the next available vaccine appointment at a nearby facility:

1. Name:

2. Date of Birth:

3. Mailing Address:

4. Phone (Cell):

5. E-mail Address:

Please forward the information to our incoming Club Secretary, Adeeb Hakim (adeeb.hakim@gmail.com). who will coordinate among the Club Members for registration and scheduling purposes. While we cannot assure that all requests can be attended to and can be fulfilled, we are providing this as a service to our community..

Winter Blanket Distribution: Club's International Project

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,

Thanks to a donation from our Club President Syed Zaki Hossain, we pooled resources with the Rotary Club of Sylhet to arrange for the distribution of blankets. On a cold winter day on 17 January 2021, this joint project was carried out by the host Club.

Club Participates in Rotary's Million Mask Giveaway

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.

Representatives of 27 Clubs in Westchester and the Bronx gathered at the White Plains High School as the truck rolled in to be welcomed by District Governor Mary Shackleton, Westchester County Executive, George Latimer, White Plains Mayor Tom Roach, White Plains Schools superintendent Joseph Ricca. Immediate Past District Governor, Mahbub Ahmad, and Assistant Governors, Gladys Muller (Area 1), John Ehrlich (area 2), Libby Hollahan (Area 4), Bina Ahmad (Area 5) and Sandy Wolstein (Area 6) supervised the distribution. In total, 115,000 surgical masks and 27,000 children's masks were allocated to the 27 Clubs in the White Plains stop. AG Bina Ahmad collected the masks on behalf of President Syed Hossian, while our Satellite Club Chair Papia Ashraf collected the 4,000 surgical and 200 children's masks for her Club.

This is a story of service and leadership. It’s a story of how our District and Zone responded to a crisis, rallied its resources, put boots-on-the-ground to bring disparate and far-flung communities together to spread goodwill. Most importantly, it’s a story about working together and using our collective professional backgrounds through the Rotary network to make a difference.

The masks were made available to Rotary by Rotarian Ted Rossi of the Rotary Club of East Hampton, Connecticut and the President of the Rossi Foundation. This is how Rotarian Rossi summed up his motivations for the project:

“The states are not able to deliver to smaller community organizations and nursing homes, so I realized this is perfect for Rotary. We could facilitate the supply of masks that Rotary clubs can take and distribute in small lots within their communities. What started out as a small project snowballed into something really big.”

This project reinforces how Rotary uses its professional backgrounds, diverse perspectives, and global connections to change the world for the better. We were able to secure extensive media exposure for Rotary, with the help of iHeart media, New 12, ABC News.

Charter Member Dr. Tawfiqul Bhuiya Passes Away

We are deeply saddened at the passing away of our Charter Member Dr. Tawfiqul Alam Bhuiya. He passed away on Sunday, 13 December. Dr. Bhuiya was Chief Resident and Vice-Chairman of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, Long Island Jewish Medical Center. He was also a Professor at Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell.

A very gentle soul, Dr. Bhuiya would have turned 64, on 17 December. His loss is a devastating blow to the local Bangladeshi community. Our Club Members are deeply saddened at the loss of one of our Charter Members.

Our deepest condolences to his bereaved family and friends. Dr. Bhuiya's amiable presence will be missed by all. May his soul rest in peace.

Club Partners with Yonkers Rotary to Send Food Supplies for Haitian Children

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.

Father Philippe Charles, co-ordinator of the project, together with George John of the Yonkers Club purchased the supplies. Friend of Rotary Paul Porooshasp provided his pickup truck to haul the supplies to George's office at Century 21 Royal. Assistant Governor Bina, IPDG Mahbub helped George, Paul and Philippe to unload the supplies consisting of 300 lbs of rice, 150 lbs of flour, 300 lbs of beans, 80 lbs of oatmeal, 64 lbs of pasta, 12 gallons of cooking oil, corn flakes, peanut butter, tomato paste, sardines and dry milk. Century 21 Royal agents provided 3000 masks while UNMB Mortgage donated bulk packs of noodle soup.

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.

In the next few days, a 7th barrel will be assembled with clothing, school supplies for shipment to Haiti.

Thanks to this partnership the children of Haiti will have some decent food during the holiday season.

"We can work together for a better world with men and women of goodwill, those who radiate the intrinsic goodness of humankind."
-- Wangari Maathai

See a video of the project

Club Achieves Presidential Platinum Citation

Our Club has achieved the 2019-20 Rotary Presidential Citation -Platinum level - the highest Rotary honor for a Club and a very rare accomplishment for a Club that is just one year old. The award was announced by 2019-20 District Governor Mahbub Ahmad in a letter to President Zaki and all members of the Club.

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.

Our Club is only one of three out of the 44 Clubs in our District to achieve the Platinum level. A total of 10 Clubs achieved the various levels of the Presidential Citation,

Past District Governor Mahbub congratulated President Zaki for his dynamic leadership and thanked all members of the Club for their diligent work in bringing the honor to not only their Club but also to the District. He also thanked Club Adviser Bina Ahmad for helping the Club get on its feet and to achieve the great honor.