Five Towns — One Community seeks to mesh local diversity

Opening up a dialogue, complementing each other and working together are the three main objectives of the resurgent “Five Towns — One Community” organization that held its initial meeting at Traditions Deli and Restaurant last Thursday.

More than 40 individuals representing a variety of groups that operate in and around the Five Towns attended the “Corned Beef for the Community” luncheon spearheaded by Five Towns Community Chest Director Bob Block and Lawrence School District administrators Gary Schall and Pat Pizzarelli.

What those three men want to do, along with the many other men and women in attendance, including Herald co-publisher Cliff Richner, is to bring together the resources these groups have to offer to better the community.

“That is what we are looking for, cooperation,” said Block as he pointed to last year’s Community Chest fall festival, where the movie “The Wizard of Oz” was shown at Andrew J. Parise Cedarhurst Park and “everyone was sitting on the lawn together” as an example of the community coming together.

Using the school district as a jumping off point, Schall, who became Lawrence’s superintendent on July 1 following a year as deputy superintendent, had originally initiated “Five Towns — One Community” last year as the public and private school students partnered on putting on two plays and earlier this year a concert featuring an Israeli singer and a Latin band performed at Lawrence High School.

“We want to open up a dialogue,” said Schall, who noted that his primary focus is the children in the community and for many of the groups that is the common interest.

Plans to bring so many diverse groups together include holding what Pizzarelli called “town hall” meetings in the communities beginning with one in Inwood on Sept. 15. “We want to invite everyone to the meeting, talk together, hear their questions about what they want to know,” Pizzarelli said.

Asked why the Five Towns that already boasts so many existing organizations needs one more organized group, Pizzarelli said: “I don’t believe at no time that there has been the diversity that was sitting in this room together, to get these 44 people together, that’s wild.”

Getting this “diverse group to mesh together,” as Block said could be difficult, but “Five Towns — One Community” is also planning to hold a 5K Run/Family Walk for Five Towns Pride in conjunction with the annual Rock Hall Country Fair in Lawrence. This year’s fair is on Sunday, Oct. 23 and the planned pride walk would bring everyone involved into the fair at 11 a.m.

“The Five Towns is filled with so many redeeming community-minded organizations that were gathered at the luncheon,” said Rock Hall Museum Director Linda Barreira,” who added that its off to a great start. “One common group like this can only help us to communicate by linking us to each other.”

State Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) compared Five Towns — One Community with government saying that there has to be a relationship between parties to get things done. “Your organizations should complement each other,” he said.

Georgiana Wolfson, executive director of the Five Towns Senior Center in Hewlett, said that inclusion of these groups can only “enhance the awareness, concern and cooperation of all so that we can unite as a community” to handle civic issues positively. “I am very proud to be apart of this movement and look forward to our future as the ‘Five Towns — One Community’.”