Age-Friendly Glen Cove recently completed a town beautification project intended to promote intergenerational collaboration. The project involved painting a mural on the outer walls of the Pulaski Street parking garage by the Glen Cove Youth Bureau and the Glen Cove Senior Center.
Senior center members Posey Heisig and Evelyn Kandel and the youth bureau’s Seasonal Youth Employment Program completed the work in late July. Friends of the Glen Cove Youth Board member Jane Fein designed the flowers on the mural.
“It was a pleasure to design and execute the summer murals,” Fein said in a press release.
“In addition to beautifying Glen Cove one mural at a time, my hope is to spark an interest and love of art for the children and seniors alike,” she said.
Jacki Yonick, the program coordinator for Seasonal Youth Employment Program said that the program’s green team has completed numerous murals in the City of Glen Cove since 2016. She said that the mural on Arterial Highway was completed first, and since then, there have been murals painted at Maccarone Stadium and the Senior Center.
The green team is led by supervisors Donnie Ingegno and Mykael Pajuelo.
Student artists involved in this year’s project were Max Acosta, Lundynn Barnes, Brody Blackburn, Mayra Chandler, Cooper Damiano, Lyanna Ermmarino, Sebastian Haluch, Paige Jimenez, Luca Mihailescu, Yandel Munoz, Ashley Rice, Ayana Stevens.
“This is by far the most beautiful mural we have worked on,” Yonick said in a press release.
“We are grateful for Deputy Mayor Donna McNaughton for pointing out this space to beautify,” Yonick said, “as well as to Mayor Pam Panzenbeck for always promoting the great artwork that pops up; to our youth, supervisors and seniors who, even on the hottest days, came out to improve a space in our community that was bland and boring; and of course to Jane for the vision (and patience) to enhance our Glen Cove community.”
The Pulaski Street mural has five panels at the base of the parking garage. The flowers were first sketched out in chalk before the committee painted deep greens, bright oranges and bright yellows on top of it.
The Age-Friendly program was established in 2017 by the Glen Cove Senior Center to encourage intergenerational communication and programming. The committee hosts regular programming, such as Walk with a Doc, the Glen Cove TimeBank and the Age-Friendly Business Certification program.
According to its website, Age-Friendly Glen Cove “strives to encourage policy and planning that enhance our city’s empathy and support of our aging population and in doing so, improves the quality of life for all generations.”
In 2019, Glen Cove received an Age-Friendly status from AARP. New York State honored the city as an Age-Friendly Center of Excellence.
The Age-Friendly committee aims to foster community between generations and continues to host monthly events. For more information, visit www.agefriendlyglencove.com.
