“[My wife] Pam and I are aware that school budgets are tight during difficult times,” Gerstman said, “so to assist the Valley Stream South Parents Club toward their mission to help the kids, well, that’s our pleasure.”

Gerstman, who has four children, played basketball and baseball at South. It is very important to help athletic programs, he said, because the experience of contributing to a team is one that benefits students throughout their lives. “There’s nothing better than the give and take of emotion at an event where all the stakeholders feel good about something that brings so much pride to a community,” he said.

The Parents Club presented a plaque to the Gerstmans and other significant donors prior to the tipoff between the Falcons and the Lynbrook boys’ basketball team on Jan. 25. The new banners were unveiled that night, highlighting each South team that has won a championship.

Daisy Kahn, who helped fund the banners, has been on the Parents Club Board since last year. The banners, which cost around $12,000, were delivered a few days before the ceremony, and district workers hung them at night to make sure they were ready.

“It makes the students feel a lot better when they see their gym being updated and maintained properly,” said Scott Stueber, the district’s athletic director.

Winter said that the Parents Club would continue to work on funding smaller projects at South that benefit all of the school’s organizations. “I like to see the students of South appreciating what’s on the wall, the scorer’s table,” she said, “knowing that people are working to back them up so they can have a better life.”