Some of our nation’s heroes arrive in town on Thursday, July 9 for Hope for the Warriors Weekend, and WISH Jr. rolled out the red carpet, or rather, the red, white and blue paint brushes this week to paint several fire hydrants along the parade route.
Earlier this week, Suzanne Campbell O’Rahilly, who often creates shell art at Beach 105th Street and who painted some hydrants along Shore Front Parkway ahead of America 250, had a bright idea. Why not paint the remainder of the hydrants along Rockaway Beach Boulevard in time for Hope for the Warriors to arrive for their welcome parade on Thursday evening? She out a call for volunteers to tackle the 45 unpainted hydrants along the route and WISH Jr. proudly stepped up to answer the call.
After all, it was something they’ve practically become pros at after having some practice after Councilwoman Joann Ariola and then the Belle Harbor Property Owners Association put out a call and supplied kits for residents to paint their own hydrants in time for America 250’s birthday. WISH Jr. decided to tackle Beach 116th Street on Wednesday, July 1, painting three hydrants on the block, including the one near Tribute Park. That decorating team was led by Christine James, Sheila Murray and WISH Jr. leader Lynn Duffy, who all worked the WISH Jr. girls that included Jill Heeran, Finuola Fitzgerald, Annie Shaw, Dakota Duffy, and Michaela and Lexi Gennarro. Not only did the ladies paint the hydrants, but they added a bit of extra patriotic sparkle to the commercial block by hanging red, white and blue bows on trees and utility poles.
On Tuesday, June 7, another team of WISH Jr. girls took on the hydrants along the Warrior route. Led by Duffy, James and fellow WISH members Colleen Brady and Denise Deboer, this time Lola Duffy, Caitlin Briggs and Dakota Duffy completed the painting crew. Altogether, they painted 18 hydrants red, white and blue on Tuesday, putting a big dent in the goal set by Campbell O’Rahilly who, along with other volunteers, painted a few more hydrants.
On the effort to paint the town red, white and blue, Duffy, who leads the WISH Jr. girls said, “These girls have been to many events and really do see the value and meaning of giving their time. They were very excited about the 250th anniversary. When they did the ones on Beach 116th, it was early in the day, but once they started doing it, they could see that wow, this is really nice. You don’t know until after you see the finished product, how nice it looks and you can look back and say, ‘oh man, I did that!’ It’s nice and the girls enjoy doing it. When they found out they could do more for the wounded warriors, they were excited to do it for them. It really looks so nice when you drive up and down the Boulevard.”
WISH Jr. a younger iteration of local women’s nonprofit, Rockaway WISH (Women Inspired to Support and Help) is open to local middle and high school girls. They’re expecting to hold a meeting in August to meet future members. For updates, follow @wishjunior_rbny on Instagram.
