Valley Stream
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Vol. 31 No. 14
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APRIl 2 - 8, 2020
Saluting a hero V.S. BSA troop celebrates WWII veteran’s 100th birthday By PeteR BelFIoRe pbelfiore@liherald.com
Christina Daly/Herald
VAlley StReAM BSA Troop 109 scouts Vincent, left, and Nicholas Vacchiano wished World War II veteran Julian Binetti a happy 100th birthday on March 24 as part of a parade organized by the troop after the coronavirus outbreak forced Binetti’s family to cancel his birthday plans.
On June 6, 1944, Julian Binetti was a Navy gunner’s mate aboard a heavy landing craft during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France. Before that, he was stationed on a destroyer in the Pacific, and afterward he spent the remainder of his enlistment ferrying supplies across the English Channel to assist in the war effort. But more than 75 years later, on March 24, Binetti had a different kind of encounter, when scouts from Valley Stream BSA Troop 109 greeted him outside his Malverne home to salute him in honor of his 100th birthday — from a safe distance.
Binetti had many plans to celebrate the milestone with friends and family, according to his daughter, Carol Binetti, but with news of the spreading coronavirus pandemic, they had to be canceled. Word of the situation reached Troop 109’s assistant scoutmaster, Gerardo Cavalieri, who is friends with Carol, and he brought it up during the troop leadership’s first virtual conference after the virus had forced its members to limit inperson interaction and maintain social distancing. “I want to do something nice for your dad with the troop,” Cavalieri texted Carol. The group had discussed Continued on page 3
Valley Streamer collects funds, food for COVID-19 relief By PeteR BelFIoRe pbelfiore@liherald.com
Valley Streamer Kevin Aburto has a knack for helping. As a Sanitation Department employee, for the past four years he has helped organize a holiday toy drive through the village, and last Thanksgiving he joined his fellow sanitation workers to collect more than 2,500 pounds of food, which was sent to the pantries at Holy Name of Mary and Blessed Sacrament churches. “It’s just something I’ve always done,” Aburto, 31, said. Now, as the coronavirus epidemic upends the lives and livelihoods of people across the coun-
try, including in Valley Stream, Aburto is at it again, asking for donations for a variety of causes, including to help feed people laid off due to the outbreak; sending food to nurses, doctors and first responders; and collecting household items and food to donate to local seniors, food pantries and anyone who might be at risk or fearful of leaving their homes because of the virus. He started by knocking on doors. As word of the virus spread roughly three weeks ago and businesses shut down, he began asking if anyone needed a drop-off of food, medicine or water. “I didn’t know these people,”
he said. “Some of them I barely knew at all.” He also reached out on social media, using the Facebook page he manages as a Century 21 real estate agent to ask if anyone needed items delivered. There, he said a woman reached out, saying she needed groceries, but was afraid to leave her house because she worried what might happen to her asthmatic son if she were to bring the virus home. Since then, Aburto’s efforts have expanded. Now he is collecting food and household items from friends and acquaintances for the food pantry at Holy Name of Mary, where, he said, demand
has been high and the stock had dropped to such a low level that all that remained were canned peaches. Sister Margie Kelly, Holy Name’s parish outreach coordinator, said the church’s food pantry supply has been particularly stressed in recent weeks. The need has been greater because many people have lost their jobs or seen
their incomes reduced. At the same time, food drives for the pantry typically run by groups like the Boy and Girl Scouts have had to be canceled. And the pantry lost another steady stream of donations because parishioners who drop off food before and after weekend Mass have been told to stay home. Continued on page 8