A number of East Hills residents have been honored as "Community Champions" by the board of trustees for their "special and extraordinary accomplishments" to the village.

Jodi Efros, Amy Kula, Richard Lasky, Rabbi Adam Feldman, and Rabbi Dena Klein are the first recipients of the award, given for their involvement in creating Arlene Park, named for an East Hills victim of the World Trade Center tragedy. Also honored was Dana Solow of Great Neck.

In addition, Jerry Rosen is the village's first recipient of the East Hills "Lifetime Award." Rosen received the award for over 20 years of "exemplary community service."

"There is no better place to begin with than with the acts of compassion and humanity shown by the wonderfully caring, concerned, and altruistic individuals who created Arlene Park, our Garden of Remembrance for the victims of the Trade Center Disaster who lived in our community and in our surrounding villages," said East Hills Mayor Michael R. Koblenz while announcing the first honorees at the Jan. 27 board of trustees meeting.

"These individuals never wanted or asked for recognition," the mayor continued. "Yet, everyone in East Hills is indebted to them for their valiant efforts. These individuals felt what we felt, but then did what needed to get done-and that is to build a beautiful park to honor those who perished on September 11. It was because of their acts of humanity and vision that the families of the victims will always have a place to visit and our friends and residents will always have a place to go and recall the deeds of all the victims we knew."

A longtime member of the village's Board of Zoning and Appeals, Jerry Rosen reflected on his years of service to East Hills.

"I was glad to be part of building East Hills," Rosen said while receiving the honor. "I used to say I lived in Roslyn. Today, I say I live in East Hills. People never knew our location, today they not only know our village, they admire it."

"Before Jerry retired and moved out of our area he left an indelible mark," said Mayor Koblenz. "He served our community for 20 years on the Board of Zoning and Appeals, with five of those years as the chairman. We hope that before too long Jerry moves back and picks up where he left off. He was always known as a kind and gentle leader of our board. I personally served with him on that committee and I know the great contributions he made to our village. Jerry was always a true gentleman. He is an example for all community leaders to follow. He devoted a good part of his life to East Hills and it is a pleasure to honor him by naming him one of our lifetime Community Champions."

At the BOT meeting, Mayor Koblenz explained the purpose of the new award program. "In certain cases," he said, "our honorees are selected for their magnanimous work on specific projects, in others, for their civic and community contributions, and in still other cases, for their lifelong public service." As already has been the case, the award may be given to those who reside outside of East Hills. The award's title, "Community Champions" derives from the village's new adopted moniker, "The Championship Community."