Rockaway Residents Awarded the Love Your Block Grant

The Citizens Committee for New York City’s annual Love Your Block Grant, has been awarded to a group of Rockaway residents among several other groups throughout New York City.

The Rockaway group, consisting of 12 families, plans on using the funds of $1,000 to beautify and soften the block where Pastor Dennis Loncke’s church and community center is located, 7416 Beach Channel Drive in Arverne (on the Rockaway peninsula). 

Arverne Pilgrim Church and Community Center was destroyed after Super Storm Sandy, and just at the pinnacle of the rebuilding process by dedicated volunteers, a driver plowed into the church last Easter morning setting the church back on reopening for almost another year.  (No one was hurt as a result of the crash.)

The location of the church is very commercial with auto body shops, an abandoned school bus depot (now just an empty lot) and a nearby train overpass.  Barely apparent is a sense of community or that families reside on this noisy and busy block located on a main and high traffic two-way road.

The Love Your Block Grant can spur up a new spirit that residents hope will inspire neighboring businesses to take steps towards softening or greening the fronts of their shops. 

In addition, to being a beautifying project, residents and Pastor Loncke envision this as an ongoing educational tool for local school children.  The project involves building planter boxes in front of Arverne Pilgrim Church / Community Center.  Young students can be trained to become stewards of the boxed gardens.  There are so many lessons from gardening techniques to building community pride through projects for change.

This is a public event for anyone interested in building plant boxes, gardening and/or serving a home cooked or store bought meal to volunteers.   

Event date: May 3^rd and May 4^th from 10am-4pm

Where: Arverne Pilgrim Church, 7416 Beach Channel Drive, Arverne, NY 11692