Looking for a silver lining on an otherwise cloudy and rain-soaked Saturday afternoon, hundreds of Levittown residents made their way on March 8 to Yours Ours Mine Community Center (YOM), the host site for the Leap Into Green Levittown party.

Children played games, enjoyed a variety of crafts, listened to stories read by professional story teller Elizabeth Rowe and were awed by magic and balloon-sculpting wizardry of MisMatch the Clown and YoohHoo (Carol Klein and her son, Garrett) while parents learned from the experts how they can conserve energy and make their homes more energy efficient.

Artist Alison Gelb delighted children and adults with cartoon-like renderings while at a nearby table Chris Ivers of Whole Foods Market of Jericho and Holistic Nutrition Consultant Michael J. Macaluso whipped up fast and easy healthful servings of quinoa, a quick-cooking super-nutritious grain that can be used in a variety of delicious recipes.

Guests ate and drank heartily of a variety of sandwiches and beverages and party cakes, coffee and tea.

Amid a sea of green decorations, guests viewed art work and read essays by local school students that were submitted as entries in "The Legacy of Green: What Green Levittown Means To Me" art and essay contest. A panel of judges selected the following winners of the essay contest: Eileen Hyland of Summit Lane School in the K to 2 category; Sarah Lee of Gardiners Avenue School in the Grades 3 to 5 category and Matt Garcia of Division Avenue High School in the High School category. The selected winners in the art contest were Payton Napoli of Gardiners Avenue School (K to 2nd grade category); Calvin Ibanez, also of Gardiners Avenue School (grades 3 to 5 category); Luke Kuller of Wisdom Lane Middle School (grades 6 to 9 category) and Monica Harvey of Division Avenue High School.

John Flores of Island Trees High School, Thomas Cardone of Bethpage High School and Thomas Schiliro of East Meaodw High School, students in the Architectural Design Program at Levittown School District's Gerald R. Claps Career and Technical Center designed and drew plans for an energy efficient home which were on display throughout the day.

Volunteers who helped set up, oversee children's activities, chaperone children during story time, serve food and beverages, and clean up included: Iris Astrof,

Shirley and Alvin Briskie, Tara Cassano, Erin Cassano, Mauro Cassano, Gary and Barbara Fisch, Linda Garrett, Terry Granelli, Kathleen Hunker, Eleanor Hunker, Ginny Isola, Guna Kaliappan, Janeth Kennedy, Carol Klein, Pat McBride, William Mullan, Janeth Nieman, Steve Rowland, Peg Stein, Anita Thompson, James Ward, Chris Wheeler, Marie Wheeler, Ceil Wiechering and Lowell Wolf. Volunteers from Bethpage Federal Credit Union included Robert Suarez, Ada Lopez, Ever Martinez and Susan Tedaldi.

The Green Levittown program is a public/private initiative whose mission is to make it easy for the citizens of Levittown to save money on energy costs by providing special discounts on energy efficient products and services. Its goal is to make America's first suburb into America's most energy efficient suburb with the cooperation of Levittown residents, Nassau County, Citizens Campaign for the Environment and concerned corporate partners, which includes Alure Home Improvements, Bethpage Federal Credit Union, EarthKind Energy, Intellidyne, Inc., Lazard Ltd., Long Island Power Authority, KeySpan/National Grid, P.C. Richard, Satco, Tragar Oil Company, and Citizens Campaign for the Environment, an environmental advocacy group.

For more information on Green Levittown, go to www.greenlevittown.com.