Story by Ex-Captain Steve Grogan; Photos by George McClosky

At the Lynbrook Village Board meeting on July 18, 2011, the Lynbrook Fire Department announced it will host an End of Summer Block Party and Salute to our Heroes fundraiser on September 10, 2011, from 5 PM to 11 PM, to benefit Nassau County Firefighters-Operation Wounded Warrior.  The event will take place at 189 Earle Avenue, in front of Rescue, Hook, Ladder and Bucket Company 1’s firehouse.  The firehouse is located between Sunrise Highway and Merrick Road.  As Earle Avenue will be closed near the firehouse, entry should be made off Sunrise Highway.  Parking will be available in the Earle Avenue parking lot just north of the LIRR tracks.

The cost is $20 per person and includes food, live music, and two free drinks.   Servicemen in uniform will be admitted free. 

The LFD will also be accepting donations from firefighters and the public of socks, t-shirts, gym shorts, sweat pants, phone calling cards, bicycle gloves for wheelchair use, toiletries, or anything useful for our wounded veterans currently under care in the hospital.   Additionally, 2011 NCFF-OWW t-shirts will be on sale. 

All monies raised that day will go to the NCFF-OWW program for the purchase of Christmas gifts for our wounded warriors being treated in Bethesda and Walter Reed Hospitals and at Camp Lejeune and Fort Bragg.  Nassau firefighters in the organization will be traveling in convoys, dubbed the “Long Red Line,” to these four locations in December to distribute those gifts.

If you can not attend Lynbrook’s fundraiser and wish to make a donation to the NCFF-OWW, a check can be mailed to the Lynbrook Fire Department, One Columbus Drive, Lynbrook, NY, 11563.  Mark the check and envelope “Wounded Warrior.”

Anyone needing information about the fundraiser can contact Ex-Chief Kevin Bien at 516-993-6074.

“I ask everyone in this community to support this worthy cause for our wounded warriors who have given so much for our safety and the safety of our country,” said Lynbrook Fire Chief Michael Hynes.