LIC library receives record donation

The largest financial gift ever donated to Queens Library has been given to the system’s newest branch in Long Island City.
On Monday, February 25, library officials announced that they would receive $6 million from The Thomas and Jeanne Elmezzi Private Foundation to create an endowment for the Adult Learning Center at the western Queens location. The Foundation gave an initial $1 million grant and will hand out $500,000 per year over the next 10 years to start the endowment at the branch, which opened in June 2007.
In addition, the Elmezzi Foundation pledged a total of $375,000 for books and materials at the branch, located at 37-44 21st Street, to be doled out over five years.
“To get an endowment like this makes sure that there will be adult learning basically in perpetuity, and that’s just terrific to have that opportunity,” said Diana Chapin, Executive Director of the Queens Library Foundation, the fundraising arm of the Queens Library.
The Adult Learning Center currently holds 15 classes, ranging from English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) computer skills, and basic education, for adults who read below a fifth-grade level.
“It’s a way to get people get further in their lives, which I think is something that is very important to the Elmezzis,” Chapin said.
Thomas and Jeanne Elmezzi, both children of Italian immigrants, grew up in Astoria and lived in the same Great Neck apartment for more than 50 years. In 2005, both Thomas, an executive with Pepsi-Cola, and Jeanne passed away within days of each other. The Elmezzis left the substantial fortune they had amassed during their lives to start the Foundation, which bears their names.
Jose Rivero, the President of the Elmezzi Foundation, said that the organization picked Long Island City because of its proximity to where the Elmezzis grew up and as a tribute to Jeanne, an avid reader.
“She passed away in her 90s and up until the end, her mind was fresh and crisp. I attribute all of that to reading. She read everyday; she did crossword puzzles,” Rivero said.
As part of the grant, spearheaded by Elmezzi Foundation Board Member Dominick Fortino, the Center, which caters to the surrounding population of low-income residents and immigrants, will be renamed for Jeanne in the spring.
Rivero said that the Elmezzis believed, “This is country that you can come from anywhere in the world and find success, but you need to know the language.”
Currently, the classes at the L.I.C. Center, one of seven in the borough, are only for adults enrolled in the branch’s literacy programming, but Linda Morona, the Manager of the Long Island City Center, hopes courses in the spring will be open to any adult registered through the Queens Library.
Classes are first come first serve, and fill up fast, she said. However, the library would like to hold smaller courses, like one held on Thursday, March 6, when only one or two students work on a computer at once - nine beginner English learners were present and two instructors conducted the exercises.
During the class, participants from six places - Bangladesh, China, Peru, Honduras, Mexico and Georgia - quizzed each other in English and then typed up the responses into nine Gateway laptops.
Student and Long Island City resident Farjana Tanvir, a stay-at-home mom of a five-year-old son and three-year-old daughter, said she had signed up for the class so she could learn both the language and the computer. Tanvir emigrated from Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2001.
“I can’t speak English. I want to understand. I want anything,” she said.
Meanwhile Tamar Andzonikashoipi, who moved to the U.S. from Georgia one month ago, hopes to use the vocabulary she learns to teach ballet.
One of their teachers, Judy Sanchez, a immigrant from the Dominican Republic, said, “I’m very happy [about the grant] for the community, for the students, so they can improve their education, their lives.”