The past two weeks I have had the pleasure to attend many of the year-end and appreciation events that our local youth sports organizations hold. Our community is extremely fortunate to have a group of dedicated volunteers to organize and run the many programs. Baseball, basketball, bowling, cheerleading, football and soccer are just a few of the sports that are offered to the youth of our community. We are also very privileged to have a Youth Council that assists the existing organizations and also administers various programs for our children. Each of these organizations continues to exist because of a very special group of people who go far beyond the normal call of duty, the executive board members. These extraordinary volunteers devote countless hours, year round, making sure that their programs continually offer their participants the best possible programs. The amount of time, energy and effort is simply amazing. When you look at Farmingdale Baseball or PAL's basketball program, you are talking about over a 1,000 players each season. The Hawks and Titans, while not at the same player count, nonetheless put the same amount of time and effort in for the good of our children. At these events, the executive boards take time to acknowledge and thank the many other volunteers who make the programs possible, the league directors, coaches, referees, umpires and field personnel. I personally want to thank all the volunteers for their hard work and dedication. The work that you do is priceless and has a lasting and direct bearing on how the children in this community grow up. For all the parents whose children participate in these programs, please take the time to acknowledge and thank them for their efforts. If you can't find the time to coach, please try and help them in some other way. They always need team parents and committee members that do everything from fundraising to field set up. The village has always worked with our sports organization and other youth agencies such as YES Counseling to make sure that our community continues to provide programs that benefit our children, programs that keep them occupied and away from potential bad influences. As mayor I have fought to keep the funding there for the Youth Council and for YES. Please be assured that I will always make sure that the Village supports our youth groups. While this column concentrates on the sports groups, there are also dozens of other organizations doing remarkable things in Farmingdale. Their board members and volunteers also provide programs, services and assistance to various segments of our community. We have two active Rotary chapters, Kiwanis, AARP, senior citizen groups, the Farmingdale Community Summit, our wonderful volunteer fire departments and auxiliary police to name just a few. I also thank them for the terrific work they do and I encourage you to seek an opportunity to work with them. I think you will find it fulfilling, a great way to give back to the community and an excellent way to experience firsthand what a great community we live in.