4 JUNE 23 – JUNE 29, 2017 BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP
BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP/Photo by Arthur de Gaeta
Patrick and Elaine Delaney, Sandy Irrera and Fran Vella-Marrone walk around the
track.
South Brooklyn relays for
life for 19th year in a row
BY DANIELLE KOGAN
EDITORIAL@BROOKLYNREPORTER.COM
Despite the intermittent
rain, community members
turned out at Poly
Prep in honor of the fight against
cancer, on Saturday, June 17,
during the 19th annual Relay for
Life of Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst
and Dyker Heights.
The event raises money for the
American Cancer Society to support
those fighting the disease as
well as detection, treatment and
research.
Coming back after the death of
her son Giuseppe, who preferred
to be called Joseph, Janie Parrelli
said an inspiring part of her experience
was “seeing everybody
equal, there for the same cause
and reason. It’s hard, but just
knowing you’re not alone makes
it a little easier.”
Parrelli was honored as a
caregiver last year, and said a
little sundog peeking through the
clouds was a sign from her son
that she was doing things right.
Slightly over $700 had been
raised in Joseph’s name by John
Dewey High School, and the
mother said she was touched that
so many of Joseph’s fellow classmates
from the Kingsborough
Early College Secondary School
(KECSS) were in attendance.
This year, Parrelli raised
around $850 as a team captain. “I
think a sense of keeping his memory
alive, this is what he wanted.”
A survivor herself, third-time
committee member and P.S. 186
Wonder Walker representative
Elaine Delaney received a purple
star at the event. The Wonder
Walkers team has brought in
$8,000 so far this year.
“Seeing how many survivors
there are actually are, that there
is life after that, it’s so nice to see,”
said Delaney when asked what
inspires her most.
As for her support system, Delaney
said her husband and sons
are, “The reason you fight. I have
two boys, and they’re my world.
I don’t ever want my children to
hear the words that I heard.”
“The experience overall
was pretty amazing since the
weather wasn’t all that well, but
people were still hanging out and
fundraising for their teams, all in
support of fighting cancer and to
find a cure,” said her son Patrick,
“Overall I think everyone enjoyed
the day. Rain or shine, we all came
together to take a stand and that’s
what matters most.”
P.S. 205 this year raised $2,900
for pediatric cancer at an ice
cream sale, coming to participate
after a teacher employed at the
school died from the disease.
“I feel like everybody knows
somebody who’s been touched by
cancer. It affects our school, and
with this we know that we’re helping,”
said P.S. 205 Team Captain
Nicole Erlich.
The luminaria ceremony,
which was rained out, is being
rescheduled for a later time to be
determined by members of the
committee, according to Patrick.
Delaney said she hoped to bring
more awareness to the cause for
the event’s 20th anniversary,
next year, and would love to
honor a medical professional in
the future. Currently, Delaney
is working to expand the reach
of the event, possibly as far as
Staten Island, with the help of
Amy Christodoulou — an event
lead and fellow cancer survivor
that has been involved with Relay
for 17 years.
“She works so hard putting the
event together,” said Delaney of
Christodoulou.
This year’s Relay itself has
brought in more than $212,000 so
far, including all schools and community
based teams. Honorees of
the day included John Quaglione,
Anthony Passaro, Paul Murphy,
Rae LaTerra, the Greco family
and Delaney. This year’s Luminaria
ceremony was set to pay
tribute to P.S. 264 teacher Merideth
Wos, who lost her battle with
leukemia in November, 2016, just
months after she was diagnosed
with the disease.
CAREY TUNNEL CHANGES
A shift in the work zone has begun for roadway
restoration work of the old Brooklyn toll
plaza at the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel that will
continue until Saturday, July 8.
The work zone will shift from the center
lanes to the east side of the plaza and will
require full closures of individual tunnel
approach lanes.
There will be a full closure of the Hicks
Street entrance from Hamilton Avenue Manhattan
bound. However, the Clinton Street
entrance ramp and the Hamilton Avenue
(southbound) entrance to the BQE East and
Gowanus will be reopened.
On the plaza, four lanes of traffic (two in
either direction) will be maintained, as will
the morning two-way tube that receives HOV/
bus traffic from the Gowanus/BQE. Two lanes
will be maintained to the Gowanus from the
tunnel.
The MTA says this is the final stage of the
work to restore the roadway surface on the
plaza following the removal of the toll booths.
The tunnel converted to cashless tolling on
January 4.
Motorists can sign up for e-mail or text
alerts at www.mta.info.
—Jaime DeJesus
NOW READ THIS...
Attention bookworms–your commute just
got a little more exciting.
The six-week-long “Subway Library” promotion
that will be turning your subway car into
a reader’s paradise began on June 8. Thanks
to the promotion, hosted by the MTA and the
New York Public Library, the Brooklyn Public
Library and the Queens Library, riders will be
able to access free e-books, e-shorts and book
excerpts via free TransitWirelessWiFi. Click
on the SubwayLibrary.com prompt to access
hundreds of titles.
—Dylan Campbell
OPTION 'X' AT DMV
New legislation introduced by a Sunset
Park politician could give drivers the right
to choose a non-binary gender when dealing
with the Department of Motor Vehicles
(DMV).
The bill — introduced on Monday, June 19,
smack in the middle of Pride Month, by Assemblymember
Felix Ortiz — would provide three
options for gender designation by driver's
license and learner's permit applicants: male,
female and X, giving those who do not identify
as male or female a third option.
Oregon just became the first state to allow
a non-binary gender marker on driver’s licenses.
Oregon's new rule will go into effect
July 1.
—Meaghan McGoldrick