MADD Long Island remembers lives lost

Family and friends who have lost loved ones in drunken driving crashes stood huddled under umbrellas last Sunday as the rain poured down and names were read to honor and remember the deceased.

This was the fourth annual MADD Long Island ceremony to commemorate National Crime Victim’s Rights Week (April 22-28), but the first memorial to take place at the Garden of Hope in Eisenhower Park.

This year, 306 names were announced, which can also be seen on a memorial brick wall at the Garden of Awareness at Farmingdale State College, said Mary Scala, victim services specialist at MADD Long Island. She added that 20 to 30 new names of people from Long Island and the five boroughs who are severely injured or killed in drunken driving crashes are added to the wall each year.

One of the individuals who attended the memorial event last weekend and shared comforting songs on his acoustic guitar was Frank Saladino, whose father died after a drunken driver hit his vehicle when Frank was one year old. New York State Troopers in the Emerald Society, Ed Guillespie and Gary Lewis, also performed on bagpipes during the intimate gathering.

The Garden of Hope was designed by Goldberg and Rodler of Huntington and built by the Kiwanis Club of East Meadow with assistance from Nassau County Parks, Recreation and Museums Department in 2010. Funding was also provided by East Meadow Kiwanis as well as Legislator Norma Gonsalves and MADD Long Island.

Boston native Michael Alfano, whose fiancee was killed by a drunk driver, created the memorial statue, “Stand Up, Speak Out,” that is featured in the park.

Scala said the event is held to create awareness and remind people that drunken driving deaths are preventable. “All these lives were lost because of someone’s choices and actions,” she said.

The Strow family of Hicksville founded MADD Long Island, an affiliate of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, in 1982 after losing their daughter to a drunken driver crash. The Long Island Walk Like MADD 2012 event will take place on June 2. For more information about the upcoming walk or the organization, visit www.longislandmadd.org.