On behalf of those volunteering on The Point Lookout Park Project, I am thrilled to say welcome back to the Community Outlook and thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak to the community about the Point Lookout Park Project. The Point Lookout Park Project was born out of a need to enhance some of the neglected public spaces of Point Lookout. The Point Lookout Park Project Inc. will engage in large-scale public revitalization projects in and around the parks and public spaces of Point Lookout. We have, and will continue, to seek input from the community to identify needs, prioritize projects and see the ideas through to completion. We will work with local governments and community groups on project design and bridge the funding gap between available public resources with private donations to see our community works come to fruition. We were incorporated at the start of the year and have applied for 501(c)(3) designation.
Our first project will focus on the Point Lookout Civic Playground, an area neglected for the better part of two decades. The ultimate goal of the project is to remove all the existing equipment except for the rock climbing walls and replace the equipment with new playground structures. Additionally, we will install a new rubber mulch safety surfacing in 2/3 of the complex, and leave 1/3 of it sand. The pace for which the project gets completed will be determined by the pace of fundraising; too much funding, and we move on to other projects, too little, and we will work in stages to complete the playground.
A common question we have heard is: Why isn’t the Town of Hempstead rebuilding the playground? If you have ever looked at your tax bill, you know Point Lookout Civic Beach and Park enjoys special park district status. We pay a maintenance fee to the town to upkeep both Civic Park and the facilities at the beach, while the Point Lookout Community is responsible for any capital improvements. This is why all the existing equipment in the playground was purchased by private citizens and donated.
After speaking with the Town of Hempstead and having several community outreach events, we are now focusing on our fundraising efforts. Thus far we have two primary fundraising vehicles, our Beach to Bay 5K event and our ongoing brick campaign.
Our 5K event was held in early August and had over 300 participants. We hope that in a couple of years from now, we will have our capital projects completed and we can utilize the proceeds from the 5K for ongoing maintenance of our projects. Our second primary fundraising tool is our ongoing brick campaign. We will be installing the inscribed bricks, benches and cornerstone plaques along a new pathway in the park.
If you would like to be a part of our brick campaign, we invite you to head over to www.pointlookoutparkproject.com to view renderings of your future playground and to find more information about our fundraising opportunities. You can call me directly at 718-809-1217, or call Robin Amato at 516-835-9676.
Donation levels for our current playground project
$100+ 4″x8″ engraved brick installed in our new playground
$250+ 8″x8″ engraved brick installed in our new playground
$1,000+ 12″x12″ engraved brick installed in our new playground
$5,000+ engraved bench installed in our new playground
$10,000+ shared cornerstone plaque acknowledgement at the entrance to our playground
$25,000+ individual acknowledgement at the entryway to the playground