On December 19th 2009 selected members from the community service team and staff participated on giving a check to the Ronald McDonald House for $600 raised by the Battalion as well as toys for the little kids.  A tour from Ms. Helen Stafford the volunteer coordinator from the Ronald McDonald House was given to the cadets.  Ms Stafford explained to them the purpose of this place, it’s an organization run by the McDonald’s cooperation that allows cancer patients to stay in order to get their medical treatment.

The kids range from the ages of 2-19 years old, the most they have to pay is $30 a night, and if it is not possible they find a way to pay for the patient to get their care. “At first I felt nervous about going, but then I realized that I was doing a good deed with my peer, bringing smiles to the kids life.” says 1st year cadet Megan Verges.  It was another success for the Bulldog Battalion to raise the money for the kids in the Ronald McDonald House in a few weeks. The mission was a total success; we thank everyone involved in this holiday present.

-By C/CPT Koufalis

For a long four months the L.I.C. JROTC Bulldog Battalion worked hard in fund raising money for hospitalized kids in Elmhurst hospital.

The Battalion led by our three teachers Roy W. Evans, 1sg Luis Gonzalez, and 1SG Roger Ozlizly helped the cadets raise over $2000 worth of money and toys for the hospitalized children. The cadets got into groups of four or five, fund raised in many different ways. A majority went out in the cold to collect donations in the streets.

The cadets in the community service team went to Elmhurst hospital last January 9th and gave the toys to the hospitalized kids. Waiting for the community service team was Meredith
Farrell the head of volunteer services. With Ms. Farrell, was Ms. Lorraine Brown the associate director of social works. They presented the JROTC battalion a poster thanking them for all the hard work they have done.

After meeting with the two directors of the hospital, the cadets proceeded to floors where they were allowed to give toys to the kids. The kids ranged from 3 months to the age of fifteen. The cadets were to be paired in groups of two before going into each room. They could not go into all the rooms because a lot of the kids were in isolation so they had parents take the toys but from the isolation room the cadets saw the children smiling.

“I think it’s a worthy because it teaches cadets to give to the community” says our 1sg Gonzalez. “It’s an awarding experience giving kids that can’t go home for Christmas to give them Christmas gifts.” said senior cadet C/SGM Bruna Cutrim. The battalion participates in this project every year.

By: Cadet Staff SGT Ekaterina Koufalis

Christmas toy-drive fund raising winning team, the “ Money Makers”, worked long hard to raise money for the kids in Elmhurst Hospital.

They raised over $1000 by selling baked goods, collecting donations from different shops along Steinway, and as well as on the trains.

Group members Dearaya Baker, Ramona Pabon, Ekaterini Koufalis and Merve Demirpence were led by team captain Kimberly Lafayette to achieve their goal of not only winning first place team but doing something positive for the community and bring the slightest bit of happiness to people who may have had a hard time during the Christmas season. “We really didn’t expect to win,” says the group members of team money makers after hearing that cadet Brayan Alzate had reached one thousand dollars by himself. “We wouldn’t mind coming in second place to Alzate because he worked his tail off and deserved the promotion he got,” said team captain Kimberly Lafayette.

The Christmas toy-drive was a complete success overall, the whole corp got involved to spread cheer to the kids at Elmhurst Hospital during the holiday season and it makes me proud to be a cadet in this battalion.

By: Cadet 2nd Lieutenant Kimberly Lafayette

On October 25th Major Evans led ten of the service learning team members who dressed up in Halloween costume to Elmhurst Hospital, Flushing. This time our mission was to distribute candies and toys to the wonderful children there, wishing them a happy Halloween and get well
soon. After approximately an hour of walking and train riding, we finally arrived at the hospital’s lobby.

At the lobby we met up with Merith Farell, the director of Child Development. First we introduced ourselves and handed her what we brought for the children to her cart. She then led us up to a meeting room where we combined all of the things in treat or trick bags. Very quickly, we finished packing and started our journey of handing out gifts. We first
arrived at the Children’s Medical Wards and afterwards, Ms. Farell led us around the hospital to where we could find most of the children and we continued distributing gifts to them until we visited every single corner we could.

Every member was tired after all that work, but everyone had a smile on their face on our way back to school. Why? Because helping others and spreading joys is what we should all do!

By: C/2LT Kai Cen