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Vol. 27 No. 23
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Garden thrives, because of Lions’ continued support spaces flourish. “They wanted to start a garden at Park Avenue School that For over a decade, a garden could be used as an educational at Park Avenue Elementary space for students,” district School, in the North Bellmore Superintendent Marie Testa School District, has flourished, said. “And classes would come providing rich learning oppor- out and actually plant vegetatunities for many bles and flowers in classes of students. the garden — so Park Avenue is the (it’s) a whole, holisdistrict’s only tic approach to eduschool in Nor th cation through garMerrick, and the d e n i n g , t h ro u g h tight-knit commutending to the garnity has long supden.” ported the effort to The plot is on kee p the g arden the southern edge thriving. of the school propThe plan to creerty. ate the garden was MARiE TESTA Park Avenue’s hatched during the Superintendent, teachers and the 2010-11 school year North Bellmore district are furtherby teachers Robin School District ing their efforts to Obey and Jill Skelget even more stuly, who have both dents outside and retired in the years since. Once lear ning, and once a g ain, their plan, and the money to thanks to the support of the fund it, were approved, the Bell- Lions Club, the school will be more Lions Club, which has able to direct more funding to long supported the North Bell- the garden. Nina Lanci and more district, gave Park Ave- Melissa Cmar-Grote, who are in nue a $2,000 grant that made it the Lions, and also North Bellpossible to enclose the area more Board of Education trustwith a fence. Students not only ees, are longtime supporters of grow and harvest vegetables the garden, Testa said. and flowers there, but also “I had approached the Lions, lear n about pollinators and through Nina and Melissa, and other things that help outdoor Continued on page 5
By JoRDAN VAlloNE
jvallone@liherald.com
Michelle Ebel/Herald
Champion Cougars Kennedy’s softball team made history Tuesday afternoon with a 4-1 win over MacArthur to earn its first-ever Nassau County championship in program history. See story, additional photo, page 6.
Thanks to legacy fund, community hears from guest speaker Rabbi David Harris By JoSEPH D’AlESSANDRo jdalessandro@liherald.com
The Jewish community of Merrick and Bellmore celebrated the 76th Yom Ha’atzmaut, the anniversary of Israel’s founding, at the Merrick Jewish Center on May 14. The synagogue welcomed guest speaker Rabbi David Harris, whose visit was made possible by the Rabbi Charles and Betty Klein Legacy Fund. Harris is the former chief of the American Jewish Committee, and was praised as the “foreign minister of the Jewish people” by the late former prime minister and president of Israel, Shimon Peres. The legacy fund was created to “ensure that we have really quality programs in perpetuity,” Rabbi Joshua Dorsch, of the Merrick Jewish Center, said. “And every year, we use those funds to bring in really interesting programming and really engaging speakers. And this year, we’re lucky enough to have David Harris join us.” Rabbi Klein, who retired from the Merrick
Jewish Centre in 2021, was also in attendance. “People understand the importance of being able to bring people like David Harris to our community,” Klein said, “and so they are willing to support it and make evenings like this possible.” This year’s Yom Ha’atzmaut was unique, coming 220 days after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. On May 20, the International Criminal Court requested arrest warrants for both Israeli and Hamas political leaders, making Harris’ words all the more relevant for those in attendance. A central theme of Harris’ speech was that the Jewish people are facing three battlefronts: the physical conflict in Gaza, the home front of Israel, and the political climate of the United States. “I believe the American Jewish community has a very key role to play, not just in supporting Israel from a distance, but engaging here in the United States, as Israel becomes more of a political football,” Harris said. “So my goal, particularly since Oct. 7, has been less to analyze and Continued on page 4
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e’re really looking to keep it flourishing and growing.