Senator Avella Presents One Million Dollar Check to PS 188Q for New Cafeteria

(Queens, NY) Today, State Senator Tony Avella presented a check for $1,000,000 to Principal Janet Caraisco for the construction of a new cafeteria at P.S. 188Q. Principal Caraisco received the check on behalf of the Department of Education, who will oversee the funding and the project’s construction.

Senator Avella appropriated the funding to PS 188 to meet one of the school’s funding requests. The current kitchen at PS 188Q is a Heating Kitchen’ only and was originally built to support a much smaller school population than the school has currently. While the kitchen was meant to service roughly 300 students, PS 188Q’s population has soared to over 700 students. The school struggles to fit the student population, as its lunchroom can only accommodate 182 at a time by law and has been forced to hold several lunch periods, starting as early as 11:05am and ending at 1:40pm.

Senator Avella’s funding will permit PS 188Q to construct a new lunchroom and a new kitchen so that it can service the growing population of students.

“I am proud to stand by our schools and provide them with the resources necessary to accommodate a constantly increasing student population. The current cafeteria is simply not capable of servicing the over seven hundred students coming through those lunchroom doors and PS 188Q has been forced to have multiple lunch periods just to abide by the permitted maximum occupancy. With the new cafeteria, students will no longer be forced to have their lunch at a time most people consider a late breakfast. I thank Principal Janet Caraisco for suggesting this project and for her hard work to the children of PS 188Q,” said State Senator Tony Avella.

“The entire P.S. 188Q school community is thrilled to receive this generous allocation of funds from Senator Tony Avella for a new school lunchroom.   Senator Avella's financial support will replace our overcrowded lunchroom built in 1952 with an enlarged, modern cafeteria to help us promote healthy eating habits.  We are extremely thankful to Senator Avella for this grant,” said Dr. Janet Caraisco, Principal of PS 188Q.