Last week I wrote about the dedicated and caring members from our Farmingdale Fire Department who initiated the Lemon-Aide sale to raise funds to help the Katrina Hurricane Victims. This week I want to acknowledge another special group of volunteers who help our children all year long right here in Farmingdale: the volunteers from the Farmingdale Unit of the Nassau County Police Activity League.

The Farmingdale unit is one of the largest in the county. Thanks to the efforts of their dedicated board, Police Officer Director, Maureen Roach, and the directors, coaches and managers, they continue to provide programs for the youth of our community. PAL has been providing Basketball, Baseball, Bowling, Kickline and assorted other programs for the past fifty years. This past weekend they kicked off their second NFL Flag Football season at Woodward Parkway School. This tremendous program doubled its participants this year to more than 400 players. In this day and age when programs are being cut and funding eliminated, it's very rewarding to see new programs added that provide healthy and fun activities for our children. You have to get down to the field on Sundays to witness the weekly event: five fields going at the same time with boys and girls of all ages enjoying a non-contact, fun-filled hour of flag football. I have to acknowledge and thank Flag Football Commissioner Ray Webb and Assistant Commissioner Dennis Donovan for initially suggesting the program and running the program today.

Russ Catanzano, the Farmingdale Unit President also deserves thanks for making sure that the program was added to the units' sports program. We are very fortunate to have community minded members like them to provide quality sports programs.