Merrick Kiwanis Kicks Off Gift-Wrapping Fundraiser For Charity

The Merrick Kiwanis Club is helping less fortunate by offering to take what is arguably the most tedious aspect of holiday gift shopping out the hands of shoppers this season – gift wrapping.

At this month's meeting of the Merrick Kiwanis Club, held at Borrelli's of East Meadow, Kim Scharoff, secretary, said that Kiwanis members will be camped out in Garden City this holiday season, wrapping paper in one hand, tape in the other – and all for a good cause.

"We're at Roosevelt Field mall every day from now until Christmas Eve, from about 10 a.m. until when the mall closes," she said. "We've been doing this for about 15 years now and we are the sole gift wrappers at the mall."

Scharoff said that all of the money the Kiwanis raises, typically between $15,000 and $25,000, goes to the various charities they work with.

"The money goes to the Merrick Kiwanis Foundation," she said. "Then we distribute to causes such as the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Center at North Shore Long Island Jewish hospital, we send kids to camp in the summer, we hold food drives, school supply drives – any activity that the club does to give back to the community."

The Kiwanis gift wrapping station is located on the first floor of the mall, near the Tourneau watch store.

In addition to an update on the Club's fundraising efforts, Kiwanis president, Cathy O'Malley, also announced a new venue for their monthly meetings; one a little closer to home.

"Starting in January, our meetings going forward will be held in La Piazza on Merrick Road," she said. "We are a Merrick club and we wanted to have our meetings in Merrick. We used to hold them in Merrick, but some things came up and we had to switch locations for a while. But we're happy to go back home."

Officer Kevin Conn of the Nassau County Police Department's Emergency Services Unit was the guest speaker of the evening. Conn was asked to attend by the Kiwanis Club to give its members some information about his unit, its history, and the vast array of duties they perform for the community.

"The unit was started in 1965 and over the years, it's evolved and grown," he said. "We're all specially trained and we have a fleet of 31 specialty vehicles. We do a whole range of things, from animal control, vehicle extrication, confined space rescue, hazardous material response, dealing with emotionally disturbed persons, towing evidentiary vehicles...anything a police officer needs help with, they give us a call."

The Emergency Services Unit reached its peak when all 37 members responded to the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. However, due to budget cuts, the unit currently clocks in at 27. But despite the slightly smaller crew, Conn feels that there's no other place he'd rather be in the department.

"I love doing the job," he said. "You get to help a lot of people. We're exactly the same as the cops you see out on the road, except for the trucks full of equipment and training we have."

The next meeting of the Merrick Kiwanis Club is scheduled for Jan. 3, at 6:30 p.m.