Merrick
HERALD EMS donates medical supplies
local deli feeds hospital workers
Antibody testing in Merrick
Page 9
Page 15
Page 4
Vol. 23 No. 17
APRIl 23 - 29, 2020
Robbie’s Run postponed amid pandemic cantly impact funding. However, because schools and other businesses are closed, the AED Robbie’s Run, the largest trainings that the foundation fundraiser for the Forever 9 sponsors have been canceled Robbie Levine Foundation, has until further notice. been postponed “We’ve already indefinitely becanceled four cause of the corotrainings alone,” navirus pandemic, Levine said. She according to coadded that if the founder Jill r u n we r e p o s t Levine, of Merponed until June rick. 2021, the foundaThe 5K run has tion would need to been held for the “look more carepast 14 years at the fully at who we Levy-Lakeside could give AEDs School in Merrick to.” around the first Levine considweekend of June. ered the prospect It is a highly anticof a virtual run, ipated event each but said she would year in the Bell- JIll lEVINE prefer to hold it in m o r e - M e r r i c k Co-founder, person this fall. c o m m u n i t y, a t - Forever 9 Foundation “Our run is much tracting thoumore than a run,” sands of particishe said. “The pants and raising nearly $50,000 community looks forward to it, annually for the nonprofit. but at the same time I don’t The money goes to purchase want to ask for an $18 donation and donate automated external when people are losing their defibrillators, or AEDs, to jobs. schools around the world. “If it looks feasible to plan Levine said that postponing the for the fall, we’ll do that,” she run until the fall — or even said. “I don’t want to wait until next year — would not signifi- next year.”
by AlySSA SEIdMAN aseidman@liherald.com
t
Christina Daly/Herald Life
KAtIE SobEy RodRIguEz, a nurse practitioner from North Merrick, was surprised with a drive-by baby shower last Saturday.
Drive-by baby shower honors N. Merrick Covid-19 nurse
by AlySSA SEIdMAN aseidman@liherald.com
Last Saturday’s forecast was mostly cloudy, but that didn’t put a damper on a drive-by baby shower in honor of Katie Sobey Rodriguez, a pregnant nurse practitioner who is working on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic. Last Saturday, dozens of vehicles lined Foxglove Road in North Merrick to drive past the Rodriguez family’s home in celebration of
their baby-to-be. A traditional shower was originally scheduled for April 19, but when that was no longer possible, Lisa Sobey, Rodriguez’s sister, decided to organize the drive-by baby shower instead. “We [couldn’t] not have a shower, especially since Katie is the baby of the family,” said Sobey, of Bellmore, one of Rodriguez’s 12 siblings. “I was really shocked by how many people showed up.” Twenty-five cars descend-
ed on Foxglove Road, each filled with family members and friends honking horns, brandishing signs and bearing gifts. Outside the house, another sister of Rodriguez’s, Sarah Parrot, set up a table that soon overflowed with presents, balloons and dinosaur-themed decorations. “My husband told me to be ready at two o’clock, and I was like, ‘Where are we going? We can’t go anywhere,’” Rodriguez said. One Continued on page 3
he community looks forward to it, but at the same time I don’t want to ask for an $18 donation when people are losing their jobs.