By Connor Adams Sheets
Welcome to Whitestone, a local organization dedicated to community service and small-business development, presented a check last week to St. Mary’s Hospital for Children in Bayside to help the hospital further its mission of providing post-acute pediatric care for children with special needs.
Devon O’Connor, the 19-year-old founder of Welcome to Whitestone, delivered an oversized check for $750 to the facility Jan. 21, one of the first times the new nonprofit has distributed the donations it receives in order to do good works around the neighborhood.
“It’s an extraordinary feeling to be able to help others in need and St. Mary’s Hospital for Children has been helping kids in ways I can’t even imagine,” O’Connor said. “The work they do is great and I wanted to support that effort.”
O’Connor’s group, which he started last summer, brings business owners together to do community and charity projects and accepts contributions from them, which go toward that work. His first fund-raiser was a Christmas event held at Dabby’s, his children’s party and entertainment center, in Whitestone. It was the source of much of the money he gave to the hospital and brought children, business leaders and community members together to benefit a good cause.
Reach reporter Connor Adams Sheets by e-mail at csheets@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.
