County, MADD dedicate ‘Garden of Hope’

On a sunny, autumn morning in Eisenhower Park, elected officials, community leaders and advocates gathered to dedicate a sculpture that they hope sheds light on the dangers of drinking and driving.

The sculpture, created in 1997 by East Meadow native Michael Alfano, was officially dedicated on Saturday by Nassau County and Mothers Against Drunk Driving  at its new permanent location between Veterans Plaza and the Firefighters Memorial. 

The event, hosted by MADD Executive Director Thomas McCoy, had an array of guest speakers, including Alfano, Legislator Norma Gonsalves, County Executive Ed Mangano, District Attorney Kathleen Rice, former County Executive Tom Gulotta and Comptroller George Maragos. 

Jim Mancuso, immediate past president of the East Meadow Kiwanis, Tom Rodler of Goldberg and Rodler landscapers and Denna Cohen, chairwoman of MADD also spoke at the event.

The work, titled “Stand Up, Speak Out,” was moved to the Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, where it stayed for nearly a decade. Modernization work at the hospital prompted another move in July, this time to Eisenhower Park.

The sculpture stood alone — until Gonsalves and Kiwanis got involved. With help from other teammates, the crew created the MADD Garden of Hope. 

Volunteers from the East Meadow Kiwanis, led by Mancuso and project coordinator Jay Steinmetz, worked tirelessly to construct the garden that will now serve as an important county landmark. They were assisted by the efforts of landscapers Goldberg and Rodler, Cipriano Nursery and Total Landscape Care and Design. 

The garden was the centerpiece of Mancuso’s Kiwanian presidential project. “Some look at this Garden of Hope and just see a garden,” Mancuso said. “I see a force of good, one that through raising awareness of drunk driving, will save lives.”

Mangano and Gonsalves lauded the efforts of the volunteers and supporters for making this happen. 

“This is a final resting place for this wonderful sculpture that was born out of heartache and loss [and] was born to be here to create awareness of the pain, the suffering that DWI motorists can cause,” Mangano said. “I give great credit to our sculptor cause I can’t imagine how hard it was to create this work of art. It was a long journey for this sculpture — a very long journey.”

“We made a difference and we are going to continue to make a difference,” Gonsalves said. “We are part of a project that will increase public awareness to the impact that drunk driving has on innocent victims.”