“When I transferred to Voyages South High School, it wasn’t all cupcakes and rainbows. There were times when I would wake up and think to myself, ‘Do I really need school?’ My environment was completely unstable.
I started volunteering at Queens Community House when my husband passed away over twenty years ago. If you sit around when you get old, you’ll dry up, so I keep myself busy. I work in the kitchen and help with Meals on Wheels. Anything my hands find to do, I do it.
I recently retired from a 25-year career as a New York City social worker; 5 years with the Department of Health’s HIV/AIDS Services Division as Coordinator of the Anonymous Counseling & Testing site at Chelsea Clinic, and 20 years as a related service provider/counselor with the Department o
I was the first person in my family to graduate from college. As a kid, I loved academics and learning a piece of new information was always exciting. Education wasn’t a big priority at home, so I learned to motivate myself.
"I’ve been coming to QCH's Kew Gardens Community Center for 15 years. I found out about it when a woman told me about a drama group, Belle’s Players, which meets once a week. I’ve been coming to the center to perform with the group ever since.
"I'm in second grade, I'm seven years old and I love to play soccer. It's a really big sport in Uzbekistan, and that's why I like it so much. I haven't been there yet, but I think my family is going to take me this summer. I like being Uzbek because it inspires me.
I was 19 when Hitler arrived in my hometown of Vienna. Harassment of Jews began immediately, so my parents and I made arrangements to emigrate to Palestine. It was easier for students to leave the country, so my parents sent me on ahead.
In 1946, my grandfather and his six brothers started an industrial landscaping company in Jamaica, Queens. In their first 20 years, the company expanded and became the first and largest black owned construction company in New York. Today, L.B.
I’m going to be an engineer when I grow up, so I practice building things everyday in my afterschool program. When my friends need something made out of paper, they come to me because I’m creative and so fast.
