Olivia Winslow

4 weeks ago | newsday.com | Olivia Winslow

A New York City-based Jewish charity and an East Hills JCC have joined forces this week to help Jewish families on Long Island struggling with food insecurity by providing them with groceries to celebrate the Passover holiday next month. Officials from the charity, the Met Council, were on hand Tuesday at the Sid Jacobson JCC, as JCC volunteers began packaging the food provided by the council that will be delivered to families throughout the week for kosher meals.

1 month ago | newsday.com | Olivia Winslow

An additional 100 children in need of "lifesaving heart surgery" worldwide can be helped thanks to a nearly $120,000 donation from an East Farmingdale marijuana dispensary to Gift of Life International, officials said on Friday. "This is an amazing effort on the part of Happy Days ... to help us raise money for children around the world," said Gift of Life International CEO Rob Raylman, during the check presentation at the Happy Days Dispensary.

1 month ago | newsday.com | Olivia Winslow

Four Long Island parks were among those receiving a share of nearly $2 million in New York state grants distributed to 22 nonprofits to help support state parks, trails, historic sites and other public lands, the state announced this week.

1 month ago | newsday.com | Olivia Winslow |Maureen Mullarkey

The Social Security Administration is ending most phone service for those applying for benefits or changing banking information, requiring residents instead to go online or in person to  an office — a move the agency said is designed to combat fraud. People can start a benefits claim over the phone but will have to go to a field office to verify their identity and complete the claim, the agency said on Tuesday.

1 month ago | newsday.com | Olivia Winslow |Arielle Martinez

Long Island posted modest population gains between 2023 and 2024, with the biggest drivers being international migration and births outpacing deaths, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released Thursday. Both Nassau and Suffolk counties had population gains in the one-year period from July 1, 2023, to July 1, 2024, of nearly half a percent. Nassau’s 2024 population estimate was 1,392,438, up from 1,386,052 the year before — a gain of 6,386, or 0.46%.