6
Living In Bellmore
www.liherald.com
Pre-Pandemic
Highlights
Alyssa Seidman/Herald
Lions Club members Audra Vandusen, left, Kerry Wolfson and Joann Erhard distributed prepackaged winter clothing to families during the Bellmore Lions Club’s annual children’s holiday party in December.
liViNG iN February
Alyssa Seidman/Herald
In February, John F. Kennedy High School varsity softball players Lara Indich, left, and Sami Levine, were co-candidates for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Student of the Year campaign. Their team, “Striking Out Cancer,” held events to raise money for the society.
MarcH
Andrew Garcia/Herald
Students in John F. Kennedy High School’s culinary program, including, from left, Cecilia Hayes, Sunita Samaroo, Anne Varveris and Daniel Delgado, volunteered at St. Francis’s charitable barbecue feast in March.
aPril
Andrew Garcia/Herald
Junior Troop 351 leaders provided a kerchief to Jason Bowman during a moving-up ceremony in April, as Coach Craig Papach, left, looked on.
bellMore
N
o doubt much has changed in the Bellmores over the years. What was once a sleepy farming and fishing community is now a frenetic suburb, full of momand-pop shops, top-notch schools and sprawling parks. Alison Frankel, president and co-founder of the Bellmore Civic Association, said, “Bellmore is unique because we have so many family-owned businesses, which is rare these days. I love walking with the stroller around the block and passing beautiful homes on the water, while enjoying the bay breeze. “My favorite community event,” Frankel continued, “is the street fair and festival by the train station — especially since it’s so dog-friendly.” The Chamber of Commerce of the Bellmores annually sponsors the Bellmore Family Street Festival, which is held in Bellmore Village, the community’s downtown, in September or October. Over the years, it has become the largest family street fair in Nassau County, annually attracting more than 100,000 fair-goers. See the Bellmore Chamber’s website or the Bellmore Herald Life for more details. Three school districts serve the community –– Bellmore, North Bellmore and the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District. The two elementary districts feed into the Central District. The Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District spent an average of $23,907 per student in 2016-17, compared to the statewide average of $23,370, according to the New York State Education Department. Ninety-four to 98 percent of the district’s graduates attend college, compared with the state average of 78 percent. Marie Testa, superintendent of the North Bellmore School District, has lived in the community nearly her entire life. The Bellmores, she said, “have a small-town feel. We don’t have a lot of commercial businesses that other towns have. We have Bellmore Village as the heart of the community.” A big part of what makes the schools so great is the close partnership between teachers and students, Testa said. “The teachers love the students. It’s that simple,” she said. “They want the best for the children. It’s a very caring community.” The superintendent added that Bellmorites are kindhearted people. “It’s a safe neighborhood, warm, inviting, close-knit. It’s a homey place to be,” she said. The first records of the community that is now the Bellmores appeared in the mid- to late-1600s. It all began when a prominent farmer, John Smith, gave his son, Jeremiah, a land deed for 100 acres of salt marsh. The marsh provided a fine hay, ideal for raising cattle. Soon, people came from all around to lay claim and buy acreage on the marsh. Continued on next page
