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Mostly Cloudy Weinstein is a true ‘Drew-Gooder’
‘Nice Things’ Facebook page founder gets on Drew Barrymore show
Todd Weinstein, the founder and administrator of the East Meadow Facebook page ‘Nice Things That Happen in East Meadow’ recently made his television debut. After his wife, Robin Weinstein, wrote into the Drew Barrymore talk show telling Barrymore all about the good that Todd does, he was picked out of the audience.
Todd is a big fan of the Barrymore show and this was the third time that he had tried to see the show live, he said. The first time he had tickets, something came up and he couldn’t go. The second time, he said, everyone in his family got sick with Covid-19. But on Feb. 22, he finally got to see the show.
There’s a part of Barrymore’s talk show, on CBS Television Channel 2, where she highlights people who do good in their communities in some sort of fashion and she calls them “Drew-Gooders.” It was one of his dreams, Todd said, to be picked as one of them while at the show.
“I said to my wife ‘God I would love to go on her show as a Drew-Gooder’,” Todd said. “I thought that I do a lot of nice things around town through the Facebook page and other things.”
Unbeknownst to him, Robin had already written in.
During the last segment of the show, Todd was called down by Barrymore. “I couldn’t make sense out of it,” he said. “I was completely shocked.”
On the show Barrymore asked Todd about the Facebook page that he runs for the East Meadow community and about the good that he has done for the Interfaith Nutrition Network in Hempstead, a non-profit that helps those who need food, clothes and other necessities.
“What you’re doing really speaks to me and it inspires me and it’s who I really want to be,” Barrymore said on the show. “And it’s who I’m trying to be.”
Barrymore went one step further than just talking about the Facebook page, she even decided to have the show donate $1,000 to the INN, which she matched with her own $1,000.
Dana Lopez, director of marketing and communications at the INN said that it just made sense for Todd to be on the show. “We’ve been so grateful to the Facebook group and Todd for supporting the INN,” she said. “The INN is a local organization but to have it nationally recognized is amazing.”
Todd and the ‘Nice Things That Happen in East Meadow’ Facebook page has partnered with the INN for years. They’ve done school supplies drives, canned food drives and more.
Todd said that Barrymore has a great spirit and that’s what he loves about the show. “It’s very light and airy and fun and innocent and inspirational,” he said. “There’s no politics, there’s no divisiveness, it’s just fun.”
What’s funny, though, about this episode Todd said—which aired on March 22— was that during the show-time in the New York market, during his segment the show cut to the congressional hearings for the new supreme court justice.
“It didn’t technically air in the New York market,” Todd said. “So because the show is shown in other markets, my friend in North Carolina recorded it and I posted it on the Facebook page.”
Todd said that even though he was shined in the spotlight, everything that he does is for the community. “I come out with these things to do,” he said. “And the community responds.
Right now Todd is doing his box betting pool for the NCAA basketball March Madness. The prizes are gift cards to local restaurants that are members of the East Meadow Chamber of Commerce. Some money collected from that will also be donated to the INN, the East Meadow American Legion Post 1082 hall and the McVey Mighty Market, a food pantry in McVey Elementary School.
