Hewlett-East Rockaway Jewish Centre honors nursery staff, volunteers and ‘Grandpa Sandy’

With 115 children ranging in age from 10 months to five years old traversing the colorful, kid-friendly hallways daily, Hewlett-East Rockaway Jewish Centre Early Childhood Director Cheryl Karp says she has the best job in the world.

The Woodmere resident and her staff of nearly 30 will be honored at the annual Journal Gala at the Hewlett-East Rockaway Jewish Centre (HERJC) on Saturday. In addition, Rachel Cooper, from East Rockaway, is to receive the Emerging Leader Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award will go to Sandy Feit, of Oceanside.

HERJC Nursery School was established in 1969. It is accredited by the voluntary registration of non-public schools through the State University of New York and licensed by the Office of Children and Family Services and the State of New York.

Karp began teaching public school in her native Queens, before moving to the Five Towns when her two daughters, Robyn and Marissa, were born. After working several part-time jobs, Karp landed at HERJC nearly 25 years ago.

The nursery school includes an outdoor atrium and a playground, a mitzvah (good deed) garden where students plant and harvest vegetables that are donated to a soup kitchen in Far Rockaway, a new science room and a parenting center where parents can spend time with their children before and after school.

The school’s next project, Karp said, is an outdoor classroom. Kids from the Five Towns, Oceanside, Long Beach, Atlantic Beach, Lynbrook and East Rockaway attend the nursery school from 9 a.m. to noon, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. or 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., depending their age.

“I love the community here,” said Hewlett resident Stefanie Atiyas. Her 2-year-old son Levi has attended school since he was 18 months old. “There’s so many great programs for the kids,” Atiyas added, highlighting the summer camp and Mommy and Me program.

Two days per week the students are with full-time art teacher Rebecca Osder, a Hewlett resident. They are now learning about the masters of art and their work will be displayed at the end of school year art show featuring roughly 2,000 pieces.

“She helps us find the best part of ourselves and bring it to the kids,” Osder said of Karp and her impact on the staff. Osder’s three children all graduated from the nursery school and are in fifth and first grade and kindergarten in the Hewlett-Woodmere School District.

“It’s almost like you’re leaving your kids with family,” Shana Milillo, of Hewlett, and president of the nursery school’s Parents Association, said. Her daughter, Penelope, 3, is a student and her other daughter, Arianna, 6, is a graduate.

“I love having the opportunity to work with many of the congregants of HERJC and helping to find new ways to engage the younger families at HERJC,” Cooper said, adding that she is “very excited” to receive this honor as the first recipient of the Emerging Leader Award.

She became involved with HERJC nearly 11 years ago after moving to East Rockaway. She was president of the Parents Association when her daughters attended the nursery school, and now serves on the executive board and as co-chair of the School/Youth Committee.

Feit, 81, originally from Brooklyn, served as the youth director at HERJC from 1995 to 2002. He has been a member for about 21 years and reads primarily to the 3 and 4-year-old kids at the nursery school about once a week. Karp said he is known to most in the school as “Grandpa Sandy.” “It gets me out of bed in the morning,” Feit said, “I have a lot of fun with them.”