Companies with a Conscience - Opa Greek Restaruant

Hello!

As promised this is my second post for Companies with a Conscience!

This bi-weekly post is to encourage positivity online and highlight restaurants that are doing good for the community.

For the weeks of 11/1/2015-11/15/2015 I am highlighting Opa Greek Restaurant!

I have chosen to highlight them due to their knowledge and ability to cater to the allergic community. I recently placed an order and when I asked my normal questions about latex gloves, possible allergens and my safety, I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of knowledge the staff had. For the first time in a long time, while trying to receive answers pertaining to my allergies, I wasn't made to feel like I was burdening anyone.  I had an extensive conversation with them about my allergies and am so impressed with how allergy friendly they are. I would encourage everyone to visit Opa Greek Restaurant!

Opa Greek Restaurant
260 Islip Ave
Islip, NY 11751
631-650-0620
www.OpaGreekRest.com
Instagram: @OPSOFISLIP

Congratulations Opa Greek Restaurant for being a Company with a Conscience!

*If you would like to submit a "Company with a Conscience" for upcoming posts, please use this link Companies with a Conscience Submission Form *

Companies with a Conscience

I am starting this bi-weekly post and am calling it "Companies with a Conscience"  The idea behind this is that everyday, I see companies that are striving to make their community a better place. I am tired of hearing news and seeing on Facebook about all the negative things organizations are doing, so I want to start focusing on the positive. One small positive thought in the morning can change your entire day. I want to highlight the positive and give notice for good actions.

For the weeks of 10/25/15-11/1/15 I am highlighting Target

Since I am an advocate for food and latex allergy awareness and it is Halloween time, I felt it was fitting to start this new endeavor with Target. This weekend 10/25/2015, Target had a "safe Halloween" event. They asked that you bring your kids to Target dressed in their Halloween costumes so they can trick or treat throughout the store. Naturally, I walked along the entire store to see what the options were for the kids. First, I saw some nutrition bars, and then some candy, and I couldn't help but wonder if there were any non-food options for allergic children when low and behold, I noticed each station had a non-food option for children; there was stickers, tattoos and mini toys. Now, I am not sure if their intention was to provide non food options specifically for allergic children, but regardless of their specific intentions it still helped out the allergic community. It was really wonderful to see that a company is not only providing a safe Halloween in terms of general safety, but also safe for allergic children who may not have the opportunity to enjoy Halloween like everyone else, do to their medical restrictions.

Congratulations Target for being our first Company with a Conscience!

*If you would like to submit a "Company with a Conscience" for upcoming posts, please use this link Companies with a Conscience Submission Form *

So Happy!!

Last week was the Summer Lifestyle and Fashion Expo and it went so Amazing!!! I am so proud of all we accomplished raising funds for a wonderful charity Have a Heart Children's Cancer Society! A Special thanks to Thatched Cottage and Jellyfish both located in Centerport, NY for providing the venue for this amazing event! Thank you to all of my friends and family who came out to support this event and the charity!!

Long Island Pageant Ladies!
L-R Marina Montez, Miss LI 2011; Lauren Doherty Miss LI Teen 2013
Jessi Ricco Miss LI 2013; Sabrina Mastrangelo Miss LI Teen 2012/NY Teen 2012

Fabulous Models and Friends

Me and Gino 

Fellow Binghamton Graduate, and Talk show host, Stephanie Ovadila

Have a Heart Children's Cancer Society 

Gail King and Bridget O'brien

L-R Bridget O'brien; Raquel Bromwell; Nora Schweihs

Vic Latino

Gail King and I

ALAA Walk & Other Works-in-Progress

ALAA Walk 

Well, as it turns out, planning a walk from scratch is HARD work!!!  We have spent countless nights trying to find a location, and trying to get event insurance for that day.  It is a very very hard process!  Since we are trying to have the event in October, which is National Latex Allergy Awareness Week, we are pretty pressed for time.

I am reaching out to my friends and family to ask for help with this one.  If anyone has any information on someone who can give us a quote for event insurance, PLEASE reach out to me!
On that note, we are still working hard to try to get this walk put into place so the American Latex Allergy Association can have their first ever Latex Allergy Awareness Walk!!!!!! =]

If anyone would like to become more educated about the progress being made to make people more Latex Safe, please click here to review the ALAA Website!

Big Brothers Big Sisters Clothing Drive

On a separate note, I am currently putting together another Clothing Drive for Big Brothers Big Sisters Long Island!  I just printed out the flyers to distribute in my community, and I will be officially collecting clothing from them on Sunday, July 22, 2012 and will stop collecting on Wednesday July 25, 2012!  Last time I held this fundraiser, I collected over 60 bags of clothing!!!  I am hoping that this time I can double that! =]  It is weird to see that my first blog post was for the Big Brothers Big Sisters Clothing Donation I did back in 2010!

Other Information

I am also busy planning events for my sorority, I am Community Service, Philanthropy, and Paraphernalia chairs, so I want to have our events planned early on in the semester, because I learned from past semesters, that having the events early in the semester allows for other chairs to plan their events!

On top of all of this planning, I am studying for my LSAT, working as an Intern at AXA Advisors, preparing for the Miss Long Island 2013 Pageant, and getting ready for my 12 credit summer semester to start soon.  As you can see, this is why I haven't been able to post recently! Even though I do all of this, I still have had time to see my sorority sisters, and my pageant sisters.  I recently attended a walk for Cystic Fibrosis with my Long Island Sister Queen turned Miss New York Teen 2012 Sabrina Mastrangelo!  It was a great feeling getting back into the Long Island community and helping out!

Looking back on past posts, I had let you all know that I was diagnosed with Pre-Diabetes, and just as an update, I am doing well, not completely off the medication yet, but my doctor says maybe a few more months and I should no longer be at risk for developing type 2 diabetes!  This is a great accomplishment in itself and it is a reminder that hard work does pay off.  I have been following all of the instructions of my doctor, and have lost over 40 lbs!!  I am not usually one to post publicly about my weight, but if 1 person reading this could avoid being diagnosed with diabetes because they saw it was possible to get healthy posting this has paid off!

For the Miss Long Island Pageant, there are only 47 short days left until the competition! Everyday I am getting myself prepared to compete for this prestigious title and everyday I get more and more excited!  Knowing how much good I did with the title of Miss Long Island Teen 2010 just makes me that much more excited to compete for the Miss Long Island 2013 title! Wish me luck! =]

I think that is all I have for now, so I am going to leave you with this little quote, because by now you probably realize I LOVE quotes!

"We gotta do much more than believe
if we wanna see the world change
We gotta do much more than believe
if we really wanna change things"

-Dave Matthews Band

Click above to hear the song on youtube.com

Peace and Love Always! <3