This holiday season marks the first full calendar year of the Friends of Hempstead Plains at Nassau Community College, Inc. During this season of gratitude, we especially wish to thank each and every one of you who have helped to get the organization launched.

Those of us who have been at Nassau Community College and the surrounding community for years have personally seen the Hempstead Plains shrink to the last few acres that are left today. The Friends' mission is to preserve and restore the prairie, as well as offer educational programs about this unique, vanishing habitat that is so closely linked to Long Island's historic and natural heritage. With your support, we have taken action to preserve this special place as our legacy.

We are grateful to Nassau Community College, which owns the land, for its assistance and insight, and the Nature Conservancy, which managed the land for 10 years, for their efforts to form the Friends of Hempstead Plains. With a knowledgeable and focused board of directors, some very generous and supportive community members and an energetic and motivated group of volunteers, the Friends has gotten off to a formidable start. We have been able to involve students and volunteers in the care of the land and we held the first of many community programs.

With your continued guidance and support, the Friends will be able to increase its restoration and educational programs. We intend to undertake an aggressive management program to eliminate invasive species and restore native prairie grasses and wildflowers, while preserving the endangered and rare species that still survive there. We plan to develop educational programs and workshops for all school grade levels as well as for community organizations. You are welcome and encouraged to join us in these efforts and we always value your opinions.

Your commitment to the environment and sustaining investment in our work is invaluable. We hope that you continue to support us. Your year-end gift to the Friends of Hempstead Plains will go a long way to help us achieve our goals in the New Year. On behalf of the Friends of Hempstead Plains at Nassau Community College, Inc., we want to personally wish you and your families a happy, meaningful holiday season.