_______________ east meadow ______________
Soccer team heads to Sweden
Photographers are recognized
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Vol. 23 No. 30
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JUlY 20 - 26, 2023
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HERALD Keeping the community safe for decades tion are no different now than they were in 1976,” Gonsalves, now 88, said. “We became very For nearly 40 years, a group active in the community because of dedicated community mem- things started to happen.” East Meadow was seeing bers have acted as the neighborhood eyes and ears of the Nas- roughly 35 burglaries a month in the 1980s, Gonsalves sau County Police Department. Crime said, and she Watch, a subgroup couldn’t understand of the Council of w hy. W h e n s h e East Meadow Comlearned that Levitmunity Organizatown and Uniontions, was created in dale, which border 1985, after a string East Meadow on the of burglaries north and south, plagued East Meadrespectively, had ow and Salisbury, c iv i l i a n p at ro l and it is still alive groups, she knew and alert today. that was what she The council was and her neighbors already in its ninth needed to do. NoRMA year when Norma When she G o n s a l v e s , i t s GoNSAlVeS approached inspecfounder and a for- founder and tors from the mer longtime coun- chairperson, NCPD’S 1st Prety legislator, decided Crime Watch cinct, however, she to go a step further committee recalled, they didn’t in the community’s want to hear about a crime-prevention patrol group. efforts. The main goal of the “He said, ‘You’re not going to council was to unify the two be anything more than vigilanareas of town that make up the tes,’” Gonsalves said of her conEast Meadow School District — versation with an officer at the East Meadow and Salisbury — time. “I said, ‘Trust me, if I’m in and Gonsalves knew she could charge, there’s no vigilantes.’” call on residents for help. The 3rd Precinct was more “The goals of the organizaConTInuED on pAgE 12
By MAlloRY WIlSoN
mwilson@liherald.com
W
Courtesy District Attorney Anne Donnelly’s Office
Kiran Maharaj, left, receiving the SHIELD award from District Attorney Anne Donnelly on June 26. The award is given to students who take initiative to make a positive change in their communities.
E.M. High senior receives county award for her service By MAlloRY WIlSoN mwilson@liherald.com
As a middle-school student, Kiran Maharaj wanted to be involved in school clubs, but ultimately shied away from them. Now, the incoming senior at East Meadow High School not only started her own, but received an award for her efforts. Maharaj, 17, started the Red Cross Club in her high school at the beginning of last school year, and on June 27 she was recognized for all the good that the club has done with the SHIELD award from the Nassau County District Attorney’s office. The award is given annually in recognition of a student’s service,
honesty, integrity, excellence, leadership and duty. “I didn’t know that anything I’d been doing had been receiving this level of acknowledgement,” Maharaj said after receiving the award. “I was really surprised, but I was also really honored. It made me feel so good, and that’s how I knew that what I was doing was actually making an impact on the community around me.” Even though last year was the club’s first, it had no shortage of activities with community benefit in mind. Together, Maharaj, as the president, along with 20 club members, went to work. ConTInuED on pAgE 2
e became very active in the community because things started to happen.