Halls Pond Park cleanup on April 24

Sprucing up a local park and bonding with community members are the primary elements of the twice a year spring clean-up at Halls Pond Park, 831 Hempstead Ave., West Hempstead, on April 24 hosted by the West Hempstead Community Support Association.

“The bi-annual cleaning of Halls Pond is a way for us to bring community members and organizations together to help in beautifying the pond,” WHCSA President Maureen Greenberg wrote in an email. 

Though the Nassau County Parks Department maintains the foliage, playground and actual pond maintained, the park itself is a passive recreation park — with open, undeveloped space to preserve its natural habitat and wildlife.

The event is co-sponsored by Nassau County legislators John Giuffré and Laura Schaefer. The cleanup “will serve as an incredible volunteer opportunity and a great way to keep our community and planet healthy this Earth Day,” Shaefer stated in an email, and Giuffré agreed: “Together, especially for Earth Day,” Giuffré write in an email, “we can keep our communities clean and our parks beautiful.”

Check-in starts at 8:30 a.m. at the park gazebo and the event will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., though volunteers can come at whatever time they are available. 

Volunteers are asked to bring rakes, gloves and pruning shears if they have them. For those seeking community service hours, letters with proof of hours will be available the day of the event. 

“Hall’s Pond Park is one of the jewels of Nassau County,” Giuffré said in the email, “and I am proud to join with the West Hempstead Community to host a clean-up on April 24th.”

In the case of rain, the WHCSA has scheduled a rain date of May 1. Anyone seeking to volunteer can email the group at swelti1@verizon.net.