By Bob Harris
For the past 18 years, Larry Mottola has given back to the Fresh Meadows community just prior to the holidays. Mottola is the owner of the LP, or Larry Paul Beauty Salon, in Fresh Meadows. On a December Sunday Mottola opens his shop and makes the life of developmentally disabled children and young adults a little brighter by giving them full beauty treatments. His staff and a bunch of volunteers come in for about four hours to perform these acts of brotherhood.
On Dec. 14 the city was in the grips of another snowstorm, but the volunteers were there to help wash, cut and style hair and trim nails, apply nail polish and put makeup on the children, who often are in wheelchairs. The children received a present from Santa Claus, a hardy laugh and the chance to sit on his lap and whisper presents they desired while their parents took photos. Santa was Anthony Gaoeotti, who was busy during the whole event. He has been doing this for the last four or five years.
One of the children was Candacia Duncan, who is confined to a wheelchair. Her neurological problems are so bad that she can’t use her arms but has such a strong will to be active that she draws, uses a spoon, writes on a computer and operates appliances such as a toaster with her toes. Her mother smiled as she explained that Candacia had been talking about the day for weeks and made sure she came in spite of the storm. About 85 children had signed up, but several could not make it due to the snow.
Teacher Beth Altmanim is a special education teacher at PS 811. The school has nine sites in Queens. Altmanim greeted the children who were in her classes and explained that “some of the children had never been to a beauty salon.”
Jennifer Phillips was with her daughter, Marisse, who was showing everybody her red nail polish. Phillips said, “It is wonderful what they do for the children.” She had only recently learned about the event from teachers at PS 811.
Mottola finances the presents and refreshments, which consisted of bagels, cookies, coffee and juice, by selling raffles in his store for a basket of beauty materials or a free haircut. Next door, Studio E lets them use the Santa, Winnie the Pooh, Shrek and other costumes that the volunteers wore during the day.
Some of the people cutting hair were actually competitors of Mottola who said the idea was so good that they wanted to be involved. John Elenterio owns the Concept E Beauty Salon a half a mile to the west down Union Turnpike. He was proudly helping. Elenterio explained that he had volunteered before because “it is time to give back to the community. … It is nice to see a smile on the faces of the children.” His children were there with him.
Mottola told me that Elenterio had decided to do this in his own store next year. This is what makes Queens so great a place to live.
Michael Visentin is an old friend of Mottola who owns the Salon Visentin at 70th Street and Lexington Avenue. He has been volunteering for about four years. Many of the volunteers are customers or neighborhood people who just want to help keep the children happy while they are in the chairs or while the nail polish was drying. Some have been helping for years.
“These children can’t get a good haircut because salons will just not take them due to their tremors … or the respirators they must use,” Mottola said. He had great things to say for the parents, who make sure their children get to events such as this one. Of course, as one parent said, “My daughter has been talking about this all week.”
The salon was crowded, full of happy noise, excitement in the air, children playing with balloons given them, eating cookies, laughing and playing with the children of the outside volunteers and the workers while weaving around wheelchairs. It is wonderful that the salon workers and other volunteers came in on this, their day off, to make the faces of a group of disabled children a little brighter.
