Welcome to the Lynbrook/East Rockaway Herald

This week’s Herald is being mailed to every home in Lynbrook, East Rockaway and Bay Park and includes a copy of the Herald’s Guide to those communities. If you’re not a a Herald subscriber, we hope a look at this week’s paper will convince you that you should be. Subscribing is easy and affordable. Look for the subscription envelope inside, see our ad on page 10, or go to liherald.com/subscribe.

What makes up a community? Is it just the people who live in it? Is it the local businesses that we’ve seen grow over the years? Maybe it’s the landmarks, or the libraries, schools or places of worship? I think it’s all of those and more. A community is so much more than the sum of its parts. With this special edition of the Lynbrook/East Rockaway Herald, I hope to show you just how special our communities are.

We found out how important communication and information are on a local level when Hurricane Sandy hit last October. Much of the information we got was from you, either through phone calls (when we could get a signal) or on Facebook (when we could get electricity), or in sidewalk chats (I was offered many a shower in the days after the storm!).

The Herald is your gateway to the community. Nowhere else will you be able to find information that’s as tailor-made to your neighborhood. We are hyper-local, focused only on East Rockaway, Bay Park and Lynbrook — and when we cover bigger, more global events, we write about how they affect you.

Our Neighbors in the News section shines a light on your achievements. It’s where we print wedding and birth announcements, the academic achievements of local students, the honors bestowed on residents and much more. We welcome you to send us your submissions so your special moments can be given the recognition they deserve.

Our Neighbors page highlights special local events. It’s also where you’ll see stories about interesting residents and prominent community figures.

Each week you’ll also find the Crime Watch. It helps you keep tabs on law enforcement activity in the community.