Hauppauge, NY - November 13, 2014 - On Wednesday, October 8, 2014 Long Island Cares, Inc. welcomed our new "Friendly Dragon" mascot to our Hauppauge location.  The mascot will become an important part of the regional food bank's efforts to educate our communities about children's hunger on Long Island, which impacts 70,000 children in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.  Our "Friendly Dragon" will lead our campaign for "No Child Should Be Hungry" which will highlight ways in which the public and especially children can support Long Island Cares in our efforts to address children's hunger.

Since mid October, all of the classes from 14 school districts on Long Island that joined us at our 3rd Annual Concert for Children's Hunger Awareness featuring Tom Chapin & Friends have been submitting names for our mascot.  On Friday, November 14 we will select the winning name for the dragon, and the students that submitted the name will receive a special visit to their class from the dragon, along with a gift of healthy snacks to share.

Our "Friendly Dragon" will be travelling to many special community events that support Long Island Cares including food drives, concerts, and other activities where we can promote our Children's Nutrition Services programs.  "We're all very excited to release the dragon to help us call attention to the fact that there are 70,000 children on Long Island that are food insecure or hungry, and that no child should be hungry on Long Island," said Paule Pachter, CEO of Long Island Cares, Inc.  "The mascot is a unique tool for us to employ especially when meeting with children to talk about childhood hunger.  We already know that children are attracted to certain characters, and we believe that our character is inviting, friendly and fun.  It's the type of dragon that people want to hug, and if we can give someone a dragon hug and make a dent in children's hunger on Long Island then we've accomplished our goal."

Long Island Cares plans to release a line of children's tee-shirts with the dragon's image on them, as well as developing several outfits such as the chef's jacket above to coincide with various appearances.