Great Neck has a long legacy of charity and philanthropy. Our people, from all walks of life, many with vastly different origin stories, are good and give generously.
Countless Great Neck families, including those who currently reside here, have their names prominently affixed to local hospitals and houses of worship, due to their sizable contributions. Foundations have been funded for academic scholarships and endowments, in perpetuity. Still others do their charitable work from a bottom-up community-driven approach yielding powerful impact.
Two such charitable organizations, founded by amazing Great Neck women, are the focus of this week’s column.
JZips
In 2013, the Harouche family moved to Great Neck, looking forward to a bright future.
But life took an unexpected turn in 2019, when Jordan Harouche was diagnosed at age of 15 months, with a non-germinoma germ cell tumor in his brain—a rare and aggressive type of cancer.
His treatment was grueling: a brain biopsy, six rounds of chemotherapy, and six weeks of proton radiation. All in all, almost two years of hospital stays and doctor visits. Despite these hardships, Jordan’s resilience and the unwavering support of his parents, Jodi, David and siblings Noah and Aaron, in addition to their tight-knit community, carried him through.
As part of his medical care, Jordan had a mediport implanted to ease the delivery of chemotherapy and other treatments. While mediports are helpful, they also come with challenges. Hospital stays and countless needle pokes were already tough, and finding clothing that allowed easy access to the port without sacrificing comfort or dignity was another hurdle.
Determined to help, Jordan’s mom, Jodi, discovered a specialized shirt designed for mediport access. But the shirt was plain, uninspiring, and expensive—far from what Jordan, or any kid going through such a tough time, wanted to wear for months on end.
“Hospital gowns have an instantaneous way of making you feel sick. They are ill fitting, exposing, and flimsy. When your child is sitting in a hospital wearing a hospital gown day in day out, they are uncomfortable, and it effects their confidence and attitude,” says Jodi Harouche.
This sparked an idea. Jodi began converting Jordan’s favorite T-shirts into mediport shirts with the help of Jordan’s grandmother, by sewing zippers which allowed easy access to his mediport. The result: fun, colorful shirts that brought a little bit of joy and comfort to Jordan during treatment.
Word quickly spread. Doctors, nurses, and other families started asking for these shirts for their own patients and children. Seeing the impact, the Harouche family knew they had to do more. In 2019, JZips officially became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Born from Jordan’s cancer battle and his family’s passion for helping others, JZips now provides free mediport shirts to children battling cancer.
These shirts not only offer comfort and practicality but also empower young patients to face treatment with confidence.
To date, JZips has distributed thousands of shirts to children in need, including Cohen’s Children’s Hospital, NYU Langone Long Island (formerly Winthrop Hospital) and Stony Brook Hospital.
JZips can provide these new adaptable mediport shirts thanks to generous donations from individuals, businesses, and community groups. However, demand still exceeds supply, making fundraising crucial to keep up.
Every dollar raised goes directly toward purchasing T-shirts, zippers, and manufacturing the shirts, ensuring no family must pay for this much-needed support. JZips shirts are distributed through hospitals, clinics, and direct requests via their website, <https://jzips.com>, spreading smiles and comfort to young cancer patients when they need it most.
Fountain Of Kindness
Fountain of Kindness, a 501c3 charitable organization, was founded in 2018 by Melody Aziz, a Great Neck mom of two, aged 10 and 6 and part of Great Neck’s vibrant Mashadi community, along with her current board of Great Neck locals-Melody Aziz, Nava Barelli, Shana Benlevy and Marlie Cohen.
They all steadfastly commit to spreading kindness and gratitude through their volunteer efforts. Fountain of Kindness aims to mobilize the local Jewish community, to spread kindness to those experiencing hardship and crisis. It all started out when one day, Melody paid an uplifting visit to a cancer patient, sharing much needed kindness and resources.
Melody’s visit to that patient was followed by other visits from caring locals. Over time, that very ill patient’s cancer went into remission. That was a true success story, leading to another. The Fountain of Kindness movement kept growing. They started a Whats App chat to spread the word.
Today, chesed opportunities to do tzedakah (acts of charity) are regularly posted and assigned to volunteers as first come, first served “jobs”.
The opportunities range from preparing meals, delivering baskets, groceries, even spa days to airline tickets to Israel. Remarkably, Fountain of Kindness has burgeoned to a squad of 550 dedicated volunteers and delivers groceries to 100+ families in need every week.
Funding comes from private donors and fundraising activities.
Please visit their website to learn more and to donate to this amazing cause < https://fountainofkindness.org> Please also support their annual toy drive, happening now. http://a.co/ggaTrJx.
