ROGER TILLES SPONSORS INTERFAITH EVENT IN GREAT NECK

PHOTO - LEFT TO RIGHT: Hon. Roger Tilles, Congressman Steve Israel, Usdan Center Executive Director Dale Lewis

ROGER TILLES SPONSORS INTERFAITH SERVICE AT GREAT NECK’S
TEMPLE BETH-EL TO LAUNCH MARTIN LUTHER KING WEEKEND

Roger Tilles, New York State Regent for Long Island and a longtime advisor to the Usdan Center, sponsored an interfaith service to launch Martin Luther King weekend on Long Island. The annual event is a collaboration of Mt. Olive Church and Temple Beth-El in Great Neck. Also featured was a performance by the Interfaith Choir. The speaker was Usdan’s Congressman and friend Steve Israel, D-NY (center in photo). He is pictured with Regent Tilles (left) and Usdan Center Executive Director, Dale Lewis (right).

The event in Great Neck was one of a continuing series of interfaith events conceived by Regent Tilles twenty years ago. Through the years, leading speakers have participated in the annual MLK service, including Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, and Khalil Gibran Muhammad, director of the Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Dale Lewis has been a leading figure in establishing arts programs inspired by the legacy of Dr. King, both on Long Island and in New York City. He initiated a program of micro grants for arts students in Brentwood that was sponsored by Long Island Community Foundation, and in 2014 conceived and founded the Wyandanch Youth Center Chorus, an enrichment program for children in grades 2-6 in the Wyandanch Schools. The Chorus is sponsored by Long Island developer Russell Albanese and it is conducted by members of Usdan Center’s faculty. Lewis recently expanded this program with the introduction of weekly general music classes for children at the Youth Center. He also established Usdan’s collaborations with organizations that provide arts programs in high needs New York City Schools. The organizations include Education Through Music, Midori & Friends, and The Academy, a program of Carnegie Hall and The Juilliard School. Usdan also provides programs for Voice Charter School.

Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts (www.usdan.com) an agency of the UJA-Federation of New York is the renowned summer arts day camp. Now entering its 48th season, it is open to all young people from age 6 to 18. The Center offers more than 40 programs and has introduced the arts to more than 60,000 children ages 6 to 18 from throughout the Tri-State Area. Children are transported to the Center in season by air-conditioned buses, and many have the benefit of scholarships provided by the Center’s donors.

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