__________________ Merrick _________________
HERALD Parents start backpack drive
Triathlete writes inspirational book
STEAM Camp is a big success
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Vol. 25 No. 32
$1.00
AUGUST 4 - 10, 2022
Athletes return from Israel with medals in hand By JoRDAN VAlloNE jvallone@liherald.com
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Courtesy Andy Siegel
AThlETES fRoM BEllMoRE-MERRiCk recently competed in the Maccabiah Games, which ended last week in Israel. Swimmer William Siegel, a rising sophomore at Sanford H. Calhoun High School, won a gold medal in the boys’ 1,500-meter freestyle.
everal young athletes from Bellmore-Merrick returned from Israel last week with medals in hand, having competed and done exceptionally well at the 2022 Maccabiah Games. The games are an international sports competition that takes place quadrennially in Israel. They were first held in 1932, with 14 countries and 390 athletes. This year, 80 countries and thousands of athletes participated. The athletes must be
Jewish or Israeli. The games this year began with an opening ceremony on July 14, which President Biden attended, and lasted two weeks. Before the event began, the athletes took part in Israel Connect, a birthright program that connects them with the country and Jewish history. Three local athletes — basketball player Brianna Frier, swimmer William Siegel and soccer player Isabelle Sivin — competed in the juniors division, for those under 18. Jessica Nachamie, a softball player and a 2021 graduate of John F. KenContinued on page 2
Garden club teaches healthy lawn tactics; seeks to expand By JoRDAN VAlloNE jvallone@liherald.com
There have been garden clubs in the United States since 1891, when the very first one was founded in Athens, Georgia. Their primary purpose is simple: Members learn about horticulture and how to sustain a healthy garden so they, in turn, can teach others to become gardeners themselves. Unknown to many, there is a club in Bellmore-Merrick. The Merrick Garden Club, founded in 1933, has a mission to stay involved in the community, and to teach members new and old about plants and gardening.
One of the club’s co-presidents, Cheryl Bennett, is a “master gardener.” Bennett, who lives in Merrick, told the Herald that she got acquainted with the garden club about 25 years ago, at a spring festival where the club was selling plants. Master gardener is a title earned when one enrolls in and completes a Master Gardener program, Bennett explained. “It’s a federal program that started after the Civil War,” she said. “People were moving out West, so what (the government) did was they trained people about farming and plants. The idea was that those people would dis-
seminate that information to their friends.” Every state has an agricultural college that can teach a Master Gardener program, Bennett said. In New York, it’s Cornell University, which has a farm on Long Island, the Cornell Cooperative Extension, in East Meadow. There, one can enroll in a 15-week program that includes lectures, homework and field training to become a master gardener. Two other Merrick Garden Club members are also master gardeners. “I love it,” Bennett said of the title. “I just share the information wherever I can.”
The club’s other co-president, Ginny Meltzer, who also lives in Merrick, is a self-described “amateur gardener.” She joined the club a few years ago, Meltzer said, and now she and Bennett want to expand it, connect with other groups and educate the community on what the club does. The club is certified with the
state as a nonprofit. Even though it’s called the Merrick Garden Club, Meltzer said, it has members from all over. “We have members in Merrick, East Meadow, Wantagh, Island Park, Massapequa, Bellmore and even Hewlett,” she said. “We really encompass all surrounding communities.” Continued on page 4