Thank you, Thank You, THANK YOU for your support of our Longwood Veterans & History Project at Bartlett Pond Park. Your donation helped make our Veterans Day Ceremony on November 11, 2023 a resounding success — and a profoundly moving event.
We unveiled 122 newly engraved names, across four of the eight granite monuments installed on the Longwood Veterans Walk. Several hundred people attended the ceremony, including many elected officials. Two keynote speakers, both Longwood graduates, stressed the deep need for support services, especially post discharge.
All honorees — Veterans, active military and family representatives — were welcomed to the podium to state their names and receive thanks from the crowd. Each received a Longwood hat, medal and patriotic star cookie, baked by special education students. A reprint of the excellent Newsday coverage is available here: Newsday Vets Day 2023 story
The generosity of our Longwood Community was overwhelming. We raised more than $25,000 and completed our mission of “Thanking Every Hometown Hero.” We’re delighted to report that we have sufficient funds to add more names we’ve learned of since Veterans Day. We can also undertake important renovation work on the 1835 Middle Island Schoolhouse this year. None of this would be possible without your valuable contribution.
When we mailed out the sponsor appeal letters (below), we never dreamed that so many businesses and individuals would step up so readily, Thanks, Longwood!
We need your help gathering the final names for the Longwood Global War on Terror Memorial and paying for their engraving on the stone at Bartlett Pond Park. We want to unveil these names on Veterans Day, November 11, 2023. There are already 325 names of Longwood service men and women on this monument. View a list of them here: GWOT 325 Existing Names Alpha We know of at least 70 more that need adding. View those here: GWOT names to be added 2023 Please see our appeal letter GWOT Appeal Letter and sponsorship form Sponsorship Levels to help us with this important project. Any additional monies raised will go toward the historic 1835 school house at Bartlett.
