East Rockaway Rec Department gets new director

After months without a director, the East Rockaway Department of Recreation finally as a new head of the department, — and he said he plans on wasting no time in making the department a year-round fixtures in the lives of the residents.

Lonnie Werner took over as director in April of this year, after the department had carried on without a head for quite a while. He said that he had heard the position advertised, and thought he would fit the needs well.

“I was coming to village board meetings and I heard about the position, they had mentioned at the meetings that the position was vacant,” Werner said. “It sounded like something I would be successful in.” He went to Village Hall and asked if was qualified – and they told him he was. “They told me I was, and we took off running from there.”

Werner, 29, grew up in East Meadow and attended and graduated from East Meadow High School. He then attended Hofstra University, graduating in 2008 with a degree in childhood education, before attending graduate school at Long Island University Post, where he received a master’s degree in the same discipline.

He said that his main goal as head of the department is to see its offering of services and programs expand. He wants residents to have the recreation department more in the front of their minds, and to see the department as a vital part of their village.

“I’d really like to see the recreation department grow in my time here,” he said. “A lot of our residents didn’t even really know we had a recreation department here in East Rockaway, so I’d really like to see the department grow and become more of a fixture.”

In order to do that, he said, he is setting its sights on some of the village’s older residents. A drama club for residents 14 and up will begin soon, and the village is already offering adult yoga and Zumba classes. A mailing with information on various upcoming events, the first of its kind, is also being sent out to each of the village’s households.