Accompanying Senator Foley was Mr. Kevin Gershowitz, of Gershow Recycling, with a generous donation of $2,500 for both FIRST Robotics Team 329 and SBPLI FIRST Robotics. Accepting the donation on behalf of the School to Business Partnership of Long Island was Ms. Janet Anderson who discussed the millions of dollars in scholarships that come directly to Long Island as a result of FIRST Robotics. She also noted that the 19 graduates of the Patchogue-Medford Class of 2009 involved in FIRST Robotics received $1.1 million dollars in used and unused scholarships for their direct involvement in FIRST.
Students discussed creating a partnership with Gershow Recycling in the future and working on ways that they can help improve their community.
The team would like to extend special thank you to Legislator Jack Eddington for putting this meeting together and helping to secure funds to that will off set the cost of the 2010 competition season. Legislator Eddington has shown his support for the team in the past through community donations and is helping Team 329 get involved in a spring Clean-Up and Planting program for the Town of Brookhaven. He also donated a generous $1,000 to Team 329 for the 2010 competition season. Also present at this meeting were Town Supervisor Mark Lesko and Councilman Timothy Massei. Team 329 wrapped up this exciting afternoon with a personal invitation from Senator Foley to visit him in Albany this spring. Team 329 is looking forward to discussing ways to help improve education with Senator Foley by discussing options to help more students become interested in pursuing advanced degrees in engineering and to spread the word of the importance of FIRST Robotics.