By:Carrie James
Several boys clad in red gathered along the shoreline of the storm basin at CEMCO's Bird Sanctuary Saturday morning to help give the birds a better home.
As part of East Meadow Boy Scout Troop 362, the boys took part in a cleanup organized by fellow troop member Kyle Christensen and authorized by Joe Parisi, president of Council of East Meadow Community Organizations. The bird sanctuary also includes a small lake that is used as a storm basin. It was at this basin that the majority of cleanup took place.
"I know Mr. Parisi, and he said he needed a cleanup project done at the sanctuary," Christensen said. "So, I talked with him to find out what we needed to do, what tools we needed to get, and I organized it."
In all, Troop 362, Parisi and troop leaders collected more than 20 bags of garbage, three bicycles and several pieces of heavy, metal sheets from the site. Nassau County picked up the debris on Monday.
The troop also led a cleanup last year at the sanctuary, and it was that great effort that led Parisi to contact the troop again a few weeks ago for another cleanup.
Parisi, who visits the site regularly, was giving a tour to an East Meadow resident when he noticed the water line had receded, revealing lots of debris.
"I knew we needed to have another cleanup," Parisi said. "We usually have it once a year, but we are going to try to do them more often now, especially because we are getting more groups that are interested in participating."
With the most-recent cleanup, about 20 Boy Scouts cleared a quarter of the basin in six hours. With hoes, rakes and shovels, troop members uncovered a variety of waste in the damp, sandy shoreline, including a computer keyboard, mirror, handballs and thousands of plastic straws.
Adults, including troop leader Tom Rheel, handled the potentially dangerous pieces, including large sections of metal and a few hypodermic needles.
Parisi also worked with others to paint over graffiti that had been spray-painted onto the storm drain. The hope, Parisi said, is that the people responsible for the graffiti will take the hint when they see their work has been covered.
Since the storm basin and surrounding land was dedicated as a bird sanctuary, Parisi and fellow CEMCO members have tried hard to educate area residents about its existence and to curb breakins.
That effort has been somewhat successful, Parisi said, but he noted that, with holes in the fence and new litter along the paths, many still trespass in the sanctuary and disturb the wildlife.
"Whenever I see kids in here, I let them know it's a bird sanctuary," Parisi said, adding that he hopes this knowledge will make them think twice about entering.
As for future cleanups, Parisi said he has been approached by an East Meadow High School group to take part in one, which he hopes will occur next spring. He also expects many more cleanups will follow with the Boy Scout troop as well.
Scout Chris Amabile, 15, participated in both the most-recent cleanup and last year's. "I just wanted to help out," he said. "I wanted to see how things have changed since last year also. Cleaning up the garbage has been the main job here."
