{"id":185,"date":"2026-08-26T12:46:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T12:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/lynn-schulman\/?p=185"},"modified":"2026-08-27T17:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T17:11:09","slug":"qns-hundreds-of-schoolchildren-collect-free-backpacks-at-forest-hills-stadium-back-to-school-giveaway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/lynn-schulman\/2026\/08\/26\/qns-hundreds-of-schoolchildren-collect-free-backpacks-at-forest-hills-stadium-back-to-school-giveaway\/","title":{"rendered":"QNS – Hundreds of schoolchildren collect free backpacks at Forest Hills Stadium back-to-school giveaway"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Shane O’Brien<\/mark><\/p>\n

Hundreds of schoolchildren and their families traveled to\u00a0Forest Hills Stadium\u00a0Tuesday, Aug. 24, to receive free backpacks and school supplies from a joint venture from the\u00a0Forest Hills Stadium Community Fund, NY Sun Works and Council Member Lynn Schulman ahead of the upcoming school year.<\/p>\n

The community fund, which provides micro grants to local schools and grassroots organizations, also announced a new grant for NY Sun Works, which installs and operates hydroponic farming classrooms in K-12 public schools to teach the science of sustainability and climate change.<\/p>\n

The $9,740 award will fund STEM hydroponic kits, curriculum and teacher training at a number of schools in the area, including JHS 190 Russell Sage, PS 139 Rego Park, the Academy for Excellence through the Arts and PS 101 the School in the Gardens.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s giveaway, meanwhile, marked a \u201cwonderful way\u201d to launch the new grant, according to Forest Hills Stadium General Manager Jason Brandt.<\/p>\n

\u201cInvesting in our youth and our neighborhood schools is what the Community Fund is all about,\u201d Brandt said in a statement. \u201cWe are proud to partner with NY Sun Works to bring innovative science curriculum and the joy of learning to local classrooms. Welcoming neighborhood families to the stadium is a wonderful way to launch this collaboration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manuela Zamora, executive director of NY Sun Works, said the grant would help expand access to high-quality sustainability science education.<\/p>\n

\u201cHands-on science programs like ours are shown to empower young people to engage directly with climate solutions. Partnering with iconic local institutions like Forest Hills Stadium is critical to meeting our mission of providing the same high-quality science education to every Queens public school student,\u201d Zamora said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Schulman, meanwhile, said the grant would bring \u201cimpactful climate science education\u201d to local classrooms. The giveaway, she said, would help ensure that students have the equipment they need to succeed in the upcoming school year.<\/p>\n

\u201cEquipping our students for the future means giving them all the tools to start the school year strong along with the innovative educational opportunities that prepare them for tomorrow\u2019s world,\u201d Schulman said.<\/p>\n

NY Sun Works offers hydroponic classrooms in almost 20% of New York City public schools, offering state-of-the-art indoor farming systems where students learn to grow produce hydroponically. Students learn to grow in a controlled environment using 90% less water and energy from LED lighting instead of the sun. They also learn to use soil-free growth mediums, producing much greater yields than traditional farming.<\/p>\n

Link to story: https:\/\/qns.com\/2026\/08\/forest-hills-stadium-back-to-school\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Shane O’Brien<\/p>\n

Hundreds of schoolchildren and their families traveled to\u00a0Forest Hills Stadium\u00a0Tuesday, Aug. 24, to receive free backpacks and school supplies from a joint venture from the\u00a0Forest Hills Stadium Community Fund, NY Sun Works and Council Member Lynn Schulman ahead of the upcoming school year.<\/p>\n

The community fund, which provides micro grants to local schools and grassroots organizations, also announced a new grant for NY Sun Works, which installs and operates hydroponic farming classrooms in K-12 public schools to teach the science of sustainability and climate change.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

READ MORE<\/a><\/small><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":351,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/lynn-schulman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/lynn-schulman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/lynn-schulman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/lynn-schulman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/351"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/lynn-schulman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/lynn-schulman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":186,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/lynn-schulman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185\/revisions\/186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/lynn-schulman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/lynn-schulman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/lynn-schulman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}