holidays – Ocean Park Civic League

Please donate! Jill Doczi tells the story of how our fireworks show came about:

In the past, neighbors celebrated the day of our nation’s independence starting at sundown and continuing into the early morning hours with their own fireworks on the beaches. From Little Creek Amphibious Base to First Landing State Park, we had a stunning array of light and sound from everything between small sparklers and thousands-of-dollars mini-shows, all illegal, but impressive as a whole for a community.

Over the years, the word spread, and people from outside the community flocked to participate. Sometimes those people showed up a little under-the-influence, excited to share their self-taught pyrotechnic skills. Sometimes they didn’t care as much about the safety of neighbors and sometimes they didn’t have the skills they thought they did — resulting errant shots into dry dune grass, onto roofs and into crowds. Hundreds of fireworks shooting in all directions up and down the beach did start to resemble a war movie.

In 2009, we experienced the Great Fireworks Crackdown. Due to some serious safety issues from the previous year, the city launched a very militant effort to stop the illegal use of fireworks on the Fourth of July along the Shore Drive beaches. In addition to increased beach patrols, they staged police and fire marshal staff at every access entrance. They checked coolers, bags and buggies for explosives and meted out severe penalties. It worked. Fireworks celebrations of Independence Day appeared to have ended on our beaches.

The community realized that maybe it had gotten out-of-hand and unsafe, but we weren’t willing to give up the tradition. How could we celebrate our country in the same patriotic way that centuries of Americans before us have, while not setting each other and our neighborhoods on fire?

In 2010, our then civic league president, Rick Mercadante, proposed we raise funds for a professional show. The city agreed. Word-of-mouth and a loan from the civic league launched our first authorized fireworks show in July 2010.

Donate: www.opcl.org

CASA Outreach Coordinator Lenora Thompson received our gift cards ( so cold outside the court!) : “Please send a HUGE Thank You! to everyone that contributed financially, logistically and administratively. And may you ALL have a safe/healthy and happy holiday season!” She said the volunteer advocates had been asking if there cards being donated and we are so pleased that we were able to contribute for every child! Thank you neighbors!

We have met our goal of providing a gift card for all 40 children in the CASA program! Each child will receive a gift card from Target, Amazon, or Visa AND a small card for a treat from Chick-Fil-A or McDonalds! Huge thank you to all our generous neighbors for providing gift cards and contributions in excess of $1600! We applaud the work of the Court Appointed Special Advocate staff and Volunteers who provide such crucial support to these children! We recognize our neighbors who currently and in the past have worked with the organization Tracie Cohen, Morgan Ayers, Gaynelle Ayers and others! If you would like to still donate, you may donate directly to CASA!

The mission of the Virginia Beach CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) is to support and promote court-appointed volunteer advocacy so that every abused and neglected child can be safe, establish permanence and have the opportunity to thrive. CASA volunteers are appointed by judges to advocate for a child’s best interest. Volunteers undergo extensive training and do important work. Ocean Park has a long connection with CASA with neighbors serving on the CASA board and as hardworking case advocates.