Atlantis Cricket Club: NY, now entering its fifty-fifth year as a cricket club in the New York metropolitan area, is also well-known for its community-based initiatives outside the sport of cricket. In recent years the club’s name has become synonymous with its tag-line – “Atlantis…more than just cricket!” This year is no exception. The club affiliated with the New York Metropolitan District Cricket Association (Metro League) usually sets aside this time of the year away from cricket to collect toys and warm coats for its “Toys for Tots” and “Atlantis Cares, Coat Drives,” respectively. The current pandemic hampered those two community-driven projects. Still, it did not deter the men’s and women’s cricket club from recognizing the need for food items by many families within the community.
Spearheaded by former Atlantis President and current Community Affairs chair, Steve Welcome, the club embarked upon a “Sharing is Caring” food drive aimed at benefiting the Senior Citizens Center Food Pantry at St. Gabriel’s Episcopal Church in Brooklyn, NY. The church will handle the logistics of distributing the canned and other non-perishables to senior citizens in the community who have been hit hard by the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The food items purchased by Atlantis through donations to its food drive will benefit approximately 150 families dependent on the senior citizen food pantry at St. Gabriel’s. The Center also offers lunch to the senior citizens daily Monday-Friday at 331 Hawthorne Street, in Brooklyn, NY.
Steve Welcome Atlantis’ Community Affairs committee chairman, said, “As part of our community outreach program this year, we raised more than $4,000.00 donated by members, sponsors, friends, and supporters of our club. Every penny collected was used to purchase the food items. We felt that St. Gabriel’s was better equipped than Atlantis to handle the distribution logistics through its Senior Citizen Center’s Food Pantry, and manned by the group of volunteers at the church.”
In commenting on the largest donation of non-perishable food items ever donated by Atlantis to the church’s pantry, Rev. Donovan Leys said, “We are indeed extremely grateful for the contribution made by Atlantis Cricket Club. Based on what was received, we will distribute more than 150 bags of groceries to senior citizens in the community. On behalf of St. Gabriel’s and the community-at-large, I would like to say a great big thank you to Atlantis Cricket Club for its generosity.”
Accepting on behalf of the 115-year-old religious and civic institution built for the children of slaves by the gentry of the day were Phillip VanRossum, St. Gabriel’s Director of Operations, and Andrea Wessley, Assistant to Rev. Donovan Leys.