New Hyde Park students become Santa's helpers, raise money for vets at Northport VA Medical Center

Deadline, what deadline? Students at New Hyde Park High School needed less than a school week to scrape together $1,500 in spare change, extra lunch money and other savings to help local veterans have a merrier holiday season.

Members of the school’s Student Congress will donate the money to support North Hempstead’s annual Veterans Donation Drive, which benefits the Northport VA Medical Center. The money will be used to help combat food insecurity among veterans and provide them with the funds to purchase gifts for one another as part of their Secret Santa exchange, officials said.

“They were excited about the intent of the drive and wanted to do it,” said Christine Vosswinkel-Blum, the school’s director of student activities. “We were quite surprised what they accomplished in a short amount of time.”

The town’s donation drive, which is headed by its Veterans Advisory Committee, was extended until the end of December, and has collected more than $6,000 in gift cards that can be redeemed at grocery stores and pharmacies. The donations will benefit the Hero Hunger Help Project. The initiative began in 2006 to help veterans fight food insecurity, which the USDA defines as a lack of consistent access to enough food for a person to live an active, healthy life.

In the United States, 1-in-9 working-age veterans lives in a food insecure household, according to Feeding America, one of the largest hunger-relief organizations in the country. Veterans who are women, unemployed or have disabilities are more likely to experience food insecurity, said officials at the Chicago-based organization.

The Northport VA Medical Center is Long Island’s only hospital dedicated to serving the approximately 100,000 veterans living in Nassau and Suffolk counties.

Officials at the medical center did not return requests for comment on Wednesday.

Richard DeMartino, a member of the town’s Veterans Advisory Committee, said the group collected new clothing and underwear before the COVID-19 pandemic but has since switched to gift cards. He said the drive surpassed last year’s totals and that organizers are expecting more donations. 

“[The veterans] are very pleased to receive these gift cards because they’re in the hospital and many of them are bedridden, for medical reasons, and can’t get out to go shopping,” said DeMartino, commander of VFW Post 120 in Garden City Park. “For what I understand, they do a Secret Santa, and it makes their day when they get these little gifts.”

DeMartino, a Navy veteran who served in Vietnam from 1969 to 1973, said the holiday season might be tougher for those hospitalized veterans, who have no families or are homeless.

“I’m sure it’s not easy for them,” said DeMartino, 73. “We try to do whatever we can to make their holiday a little bit brighter.”

Supervisor Jennifer DeSena stressed the importance of giving back to veterans and lauded the students for their efforts.

“Anything you do to support our veterans means so much because they are the reason we have our free country,” DeSena said while honoring the students with a town citation on Monday. “We owe them such a debt of gratitude. You should know that the veterans are so grateful that you acknowledge them.”