Community Comes Together to Build a Playground in Central Islip in Honor of Fallen Sandy Hook Elementary School Victim.
Participants from United Way of Long Island’s (UWLI) YouthBuild program and UWLI contract partners came together this weekend for the “Where Angels Play Foundation” to erect a playground in West Islip to honor the life of Madeleine Hsu, a young girl who was a victim of the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy. Volunteers broke ground for the playground on Friday morning. The ribbon cutting ceremony was held on Sunday. The YouthBuild Long Island students joined volunteers from American Recreation Products, Astro Masonry, Atlantic Irrigation, Bissett Nursery, Deer Park Sand & Gravel, East Islip Lumber, Gibralter Concrete, Hollandia Nursery, Lifetime Seamless Gutters, Lowes, Performance Contractors of LI, Rainbow Paint & Decoration, and Royal Star Associates.
“The YouthBuild Long Island program was pleased to be a part of the ‘Where Angels Play’ project to support a community of stakeholders coming together to pay tribute to Madeleine Hsu, an innocent victim. In spite of such a tragic event, our students felt it was a celebration of her life” said, Elizabeth Morgan, Director of YouthBuild Long Island.
The Where Angels Play Foundation is a not for profit organization that originated in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy in Newton Connecticut, which resulted in the wake of the devastation caused to our region by Super-Storm Sandy. The goal of the foundation is to build a playground in the areas ravaged by the storm simultaneously commemorating the 20 children and six teachers who were killed that day. In the end, 26 playgrounds all along the coast of three States will have been built by firefighters, police officers, teachers, support staff, and volunteers in an attempt to connect two tragedies in a way that people can never forget. Find more information at http://www.thesandygroundproject.org/