This fall the Greater Port Washington Business Improvement District (BID) decorated lamp posts around town with corn shocks and orange bows. Admiring the look, North Shore Audubon Copresident Jennifer Wilson-Pines also noticed that the corn shocks were loaded with ears of feed corn. She contacted the BID to ask if they would mind if some of the corn was collected to donate to Volunteers For Wildlife, to help feed their recuperating little critters. Mariann Dalimonte, executive director of BID, reached out to her executive board who agreed to the idea.
Wilson-Pines spoke to Jim Jones, past president and board member of Volunteers for Wildlife (Volunteers). Jones checked with the staff at Volunteers and they were happy to get this donation. Jones has a long history in Port, retiring after many years as a science teacher at Schreiber. Jones, working with the Schreiber Key Club, is also responsible for installing most of the Osprey nesting platforms in Manhasset Bay and Hempstead Harbor.
Granted permission, Wilson-Pines, with her daughters and some of their friends, started walking around town harvesting the ears of corn. By the time they were done, 18 grocery bags of corn had been collected with an average of 20 ears per bag. Jones came to meet them at the Port Chamber of Commerce-BID office in Sunset Park to pick up the corn and take it back to the Volunteers rehabilitation center located in Bailey Arboretum in Locust Valley.
Volunteers is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving Long Island’s wildlife and natural habitats. They accept and rehabilitate sick, injured and orphaned wildlife, over 1,000 a year. One of their recent patients was a baby Osprey whose wing was broken when an automobile crash in Bayville downed his nesting platform and killed his two siblings. Due to his injury, he cannot be released, but will have a permanent home as an educational ambassador. The corn will feed many of their bird and small animal patients this winter. For more information on Volunteers for Wildlife go to www.volunteersforwildlife.org. The Greater Port Washington BID can be reached at www.portwashingtonbid.org.
