Nassau County Executive Edward P. Mangano announced the successful end to the second year of Nassau County’s Summer Recreation Program, which included 800 campers, double the number of campers that participated last year.
“The Summer Recreation Program represents one of the many steps I am taking to enhance the quality of life we all enjoy in Nassau County, and it gives me great pleasure that Nassau County can provide an affordable and convenient summer program where all of the children were able to enjoy themselves in a safe environment,” said Mangano.
From July 5 through August 11, the campers, whose ages ranged from 5 to 12 years old, enjoyed a range of activities at four of the County Parks including: Cantiague Park in Hicksville, Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, Nickerson Beach Park in Lido Beach and Wantagh Park in Wantagh.
After consultations with the parents of the children who attended the Summer Recreation Program in 2010, several improvements were made to ensure a fun and safe environment for the campers, including: the addition of swimming at three of the parks (with the exception of Eisenhower), arts and crafts, board and recreational games, a range of athletic programs and special events. Additionally, the program added a lunch option and an extended day session until 5 p.m.
Though the program introduced many additional fun activities for the campers, Nassau County also offered parents an opportunity to provide an additional layer of safety for their children with the Child Identification Packet, which contains a child’s personal information, fingerprints and a recent photo, which would assist the police in the event a child is lost or missing.
With the help of Friendly’s sponsorship of the Nassau County Summer Recreation Program and their “Random Acts of Friendlyness” campaign, which was initiated in late April of this year to celebrate 40 years of family fun here on Long Island, 10 children had the opportunity to attend the program this year.
In addition to Friendly’s sponsorship of 10 children, this year’s Summer Recreation Program would not have been made possible without the local organizations who for the second year volunteered their time, money and equipment to add to the success of the program. They include: Bill Mecca of the United States Tennis Association, who was able to provide volunteer professional tennis players to give lessons to the campers, Tennis Racquets for Kids, a nonprofit organization started by high school students Zachary and Paige Mintz, who donated 200 tennis racquets and volunteered their time, as well as Mike Wade and Joe Louis of The First Tee who provided free golf lessons for the campers.
