Remember the images we showed you last month of the pollution at Hempstead Lake State Park - the discarded car tires and propane tanks, the piles of plastic bottles, and other trash that stretched across the shore of the North Pond?
Well, thanks to a group of roughly 100 eager volunteers, it's all gone. This stretch of the park, which straddles West Hempstead and Rockville Centre, received a much needed clean-up Saturday.
Adults and children, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, students from Adelphi University, and staff and riders from the Lakewood Stables, teamed up with NYS Parks Department to take back this beach.
Together the volunteers and park staff hauled away several garbage bags full of trash, enough to fill up one and half dumpsters.
Check out the video report above.
Alex Jacobson, the owner of Lakewood Stables, who collaborated with park manager William Brown, to bring about the effort, said it was the first major cleanup he has seen take place in the six years he has owned his West Hempstead business.
There are still other areas of the park riddled by pollution and Jacobson hopes to hold another community effort in the spring. He thanked the Parks Department, the volunteers and the local businesses who sponsored the clean-up and provided refreshments and equipment including ASF Contracting Inc., Gino's Pizza, Lake Park Deli, Olsen's Creative Landscaping, Met Foods Markets and A & S Bagels.
