Giving Thursday 2020 - The Greater Astoria Historical Society

GivingTuesday, often stylized as #GivingTuesday for the purposes of hashtag activism, refers to the Tuesday after Thanksgiving in the United States. It is touted as a "global generosity movement unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world.”

Today, on this GivingTuesday we want to focus our attention to an organization we are linked with, The Greater Astoria Historical Society (GAHS). 

The Greater Astoria Historical Society is a non-profit cultural and historical organization located in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens, New York, United States, dedicated to preserving the past and promoting the future of the neighborhoods that are part of historic Long Island City, including the Village of Astoria, Blissville, Bowery Bay, Dutch Kills, Hunters Point, Ravenswood, Steinway Village, and Sunnyside.

Pictured above is Bob Singleton, the Executive Director of the Greater Astoria Historical Society with the kids of the nearby Riis Academy on Friday May 7th 2016 for the “Rediscovering Ravenswood” program at the old GAHS headquarters located at the Quinn Building on Broadway.

At the time the Riis Academy was the largest youth services provider in western Queens, and consisted of youth who are residents of Ravenswood and Queensbridge Houses.

The “Rediscovering Ravenswood” program was specifically geared to the youth of Ravenswood Houses with the goal of providing them with a positive perspective of their neighborhood from local photographers, myself, Adolfo Steve Vazquez and Salvador Espinoza.

Our focus that day was to educate the kids on little known historical facts about their hometown, engage them with our photo exhibits, #LastNovemberinAQ & “We Will Be Here” and engage them with a local photo challenge.

I will always remember how much fun the kids had with us that day and at the end of the program how proud they looked when we expressed to them that we valued the visual perspective of their home.

To help us create more programs like “Rediscovering Ravenswood” as well as to continue all the varied programming we create for ALL groups interested on upholding the integrity of Queens history please click on the link below and contribute today:

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=DNMAJVTLTKFTS

Photos and words by Adolfo Steve Vazquez