The North and Central Merrick Civic Association organized a team of local volunteers to plant flowers and remove weeds and litter on May 30 along Merrick Avenue. The association maintains many of the trees that line the sidewalk. Working with shovels and spades, the volunteers spent a Saturday morning helping to beautify ... more

Merrick Herald Life Senior Editor Scott Brinton, third from right, who is an adjunct journalism professor at Hofstra University, recently brought his Issues in Science Reporting students to a cleanup in the Merrick woodlands off the Meadowbrook Parkway to help out and report on the event. More than 50 volunteers attended the cleanup. more

Chaz Murray, 54, grew up in Merrick bounding through the woods near his home. He became a Boy Scout and went on to camp in the wild. He moved away when he turned 24 and returned seven years ago. On Sunday, he said he was horrified to see the derelict state into which Merrick’s forests off the Meadowbrook Parkway have fallen. Murray, a New York City paramedic, was one of 52 volunteers who came to the woods between Sunrise Highway and Meadowbrook Road in Merrick to clean up debris that had washed from farther north into the forest via the Meadow Brook or had been strewn there by vandals. He said he learned about the cleanup by reading the Merrick Herald Life. more

Since April is National Volunteer Month, let’s consider what volunteering really is: a vital part of every community . . . more

As we headed back to the Guy Lombardo Marina in Freeport, navigating through Freeport waterways two days before Thanksgiving, the pile of trash on our boat was both gratifying and alarming. more

A dozen Merrick Girl Scouts from Troop 2547 spent the afternoon of Sunday, Oct. 5, helping keep their community beautiful by planting flowers and cleaning up trash at Camman’s Pond Park in south Merrick. more

The South Merrick Community Civic Association will begin its annual “Spring Clean Sweep” at 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 26, at Camman's Pond Park, next to Levy Lakeside School. more

No community would be what it is without volunteers. April is National Volunteer Month . . . more

Our schools, our businesses, our town departments that maintain the roads and infrastructure and the village and county police units that patrol our streets all contribute to the quality of life we enjoy here on the South Shore. more

Squads of muscled police officers in slate-colored jumpsuits crowded together on the sidewalk as we made our way up Stamboliiski Boulevard in Sofia, Bulgaria, on June 23, two days after we touched down in the country’s capital. more