When Rich Pallisco got word about two elderly sisters who were unable to clean up the overgrown yard of their New Hyde Park home, he turned to the members of Boy Scout Troop 298.
Armed with weed wackers, rakes and plenty of plastic bags, Pallisco, Troop 298 Scoutmaster Andrew Rezin and six scouts descended on the home at North 10th Street two weeks ago on Sunday.
“The weeds were very high, lots of debris,” said Pallisco, an assistant scoutmaster of the Boy Scout troop based at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church.
But prepared as always, the scouts cut the weeds, mowed the lawn and removed a stockade fence along one side of the house that had fallen into serious disrepair in two hours.
Palisco said he learned of the elderly sisters’ problem from one of the village trustees.
“It’s all about neighbors complaining,” he said. “We felt sorry for these ladies. One of the trustees reached out, so we did something.”
Palisco, who is also the Village of New Hyde Park’s director of recreation, said he knew that complaints from neighbors could prompt a summons if the yard wasn’t cleaned up soon.
Pallisco said the six scouts who participated in the cleanup were all at various ranks working on merit badges and in need of meeting an annual requirement for 12 hours of community service. So they welcomed the opportunity to help the women..
But, he said, the project was more about the service itself than the hours earned.
“It felt good after we did the whole job,” Pallisco said, adding that the seniors expressed their gratitude after the work was done.
Pallisco said service was something that the scouts in Troop 298 are accustomed to providing.
After heavy snowfalls, he said, he and his scouts have gone out to help elderly village residents shovel their walkways and have also cleaned sidewalks for local churches.
“We greatly appreciate their efforts,” said Village of New Hyde Park Mayor Robert Lofaro.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy last fall, several scouts received a public commendation from then-Mayor Daniel Petruccio and his fellow village board members.
On a Saturday about two weeks after the storm struck, Thomas Fitzgerald, directed a scout cleanup project in New Hyde Park Memorial Park and Nuzzi Park.
There the scouts used chain saws to cut large tree limbs that were strewn in both parks, They also collected smaller debris and dragged it to a central point for eventual pick-up by the village Department of Public Works
“I saw the Department of Public Works was really busy with the street cleanup. And I saw the parks were really in disarray,” Pallisco said.
For another project, a member of the troop working toward his Eagle Scout rank repainted the snack stand and storage structure at New Hyde Park Memorial Park, with the assistance of some of his fellow scouts.
