Once every 32 minutes in the United States, a family is notified that someone they love was hurt because of drunk driving. Last year, on the Island alone, 90 people fell victim to alcohol/drug related accidents. There are several local memorials dedicated to the innocent victims of this crime, and now the largest memorial nationwide will be built in Farmingdale.

The State University of New York at Farmingdale recently donated a little over 6,000 square feet of land to the Long Island chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and students helped design and create what will be a grandiose garden and wall of remembrance, placed directly in front of Walt Whitman Hall on campus. New York State Senator Charles J. Fuschillo secured $100,000 toward the memorial, which is almost half of the funding needed for the project. Approximately $250,000 is needed for completion.

The Long Island Garden of Awareness Victim Memorial will feature a 75-foot wall of bricks with the names of victims printed on them. The bricks will run five feet high. In the middle of the wall will be a break as though a car went through the wall. Long Island sculptor Michael Alfano, who lost his college girlfriend to a drunk driver, will create a sculpture for depicting a young man and woman trying to mend the hole in the wall with new bricks.

"This sculpture is a symbol of strength and the hope that some day there will be an end to the killing," said Art Nigro of MADD. "The whole reason for the wall is to remind people that it does not have to be this way."

Anyone who has lost a loved one from a drinking and driving accident can have a name written on a brick. MADD is asking for a $100 donation per brick, but Nigro said that no family will be turned away. 2,500 names will fill the wall of bricks, signifying Long Island victims of DWI.

"There is no question about the importance of this memorial for the people of Long Island," said Fuschillo in his remarks for the check presentation to MADD. "This memorial will deliver an incredibly positive and lasting message about the terrible price we pay in human life for the totally stoppable crime of drunk driving."

Nigro said that this garden is a reminder of the problems we have with drinking and driving right here on the Island. Suffolk County leads the nation in deaths relating to drinking accidents, he said. However, there has been a large improvement, and the county's Stop DWI program has cut down the number of deaths related to these types of accidents.

"The size of the county and its large population can account for some of the deaths," he said. "Both Nassau and Suffolk counties have worked very hard, we are good allies with the police department."

The Long Island chapter of MADD is located in Huntington Station. It was started in 1982 by two parents who lost their little girl in a drunk driving accident in Syosset.

The project is still in the fund-raising phase. Long Island contractors Goldberg and Rodler will start construction as soon as possible. For more information about donations, call MADD at 631-547-6233.