INCORPORATING THE WEST HEMPSTEAD BEACON VOL. 76 No. 19
Second Class Postage paid at Post office at Hempstead, N.Y. 11550
May 7 - 13, 2026
2 Endo Blvd, Garden City NY 11530
$1 per copy
Subscription $50
Island marathon draws major crowd From 5K to 26.2, crowds pack into Eisenhower Park to set new records
community. At the race, he said, Jovia gets to interact with thousands of runners, each who has a unique story to Runners from near and far hit the tell. “I think our partnership with this pavement in Eisenhower Park this weekend for the Jovia Financial Credit event is really relevant,” he said at a Union Long Island Marathon, drawing previous race preview event. “We’ve thousands of athletes, families, foodies been in the community for 85 years now, and more for a celebration of endur- serving our members, and they trust us ance, community and local connection. for a variety of financial needs. Similar Festivities kicked off with a 5K Fami- to the runners, they come to us with a ly Fun Run on May 1, followed by a 10K number of different reasons, and some and 1K Kids Fun Run on May 2 and the of them are good, some of them are bad. half-marathon and marathon on May 3. But no matter what, our staff is always Each race began, and ended, in East looking to greet them and get them to Meadow’s Eisenhower Park. their next mile.” The marathon is the premier sportThe top finishers in the men’s maraing event in Nassau County thon included Scott Bickard, and an economic generator 37 of Bethpage; Demir for the area. It also is a great Degir menci, 24 of Forest source of community enterHills; and Raphael Archer, tainment outside of the 28 of Port Chester. The top races. A food truck festival three finishers in the womran all weekend, along with en’s marathon included a full lineup of music enterGrace Garvey, 25 of New tainment at the Harry Chap- GRACE GARVEy York City, Rebecca Arbitin Lakeside Theatre in the First female finisher, man, 17 of Roslyn; and park. The marathon, which Long Island marathon Samantha Augeri, 43 of celebrated its 53rd year, has Rockville Centre. been sponsored by Jovia Financial CredGarvey said she didn’t realize she it Union for the last decade. was as far ahead of other runners as Over 4,000 runners participated in she was. Pacers on a bicycle were guidthe weekend’s festivities. ing her towards the finish line, but still, “The Marathon Weekend brings she said, “I thought there was a really together people from all over the globe,” big gap between me and person that was race director Corey Roberts said in a in first.” news release. “I cannot thank Jovia “I am extremely, extremely thankenough for continuing their support as ful,” she said, reflecting on the perforthe title sponsor of the marathon.” mance. “I was injured this past year, so I Peter Purpura, vice president of was in a lot of recovery, so to be able to business development at Jovia Finan- come out and perform the way that I did cial Credit Union, explained that the — it was amazing.” race has served as a great way for the COntinued On Page 5 company to get to know the Long Island
By JORDAN VALLONE
jvallone@liherald.com
Courtesy Scott Brinton
an estimated 400 demonstrators turned out in Hempstead May 1 to protest the continued presence of immigration and Customs enforcement officers in the Village of Hempstead and on Long island.
ICE protest in Hempstead
Mother speaks out on son’s deportation By SCOTT BRINTON Special to the Herald
Amanda Garcia’s 47-year-old son, a Home Depot driver with Temporary Protected Status, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on the street in New Jersey last July. Garcia is unsure, she said, whether her son was carrying his Employment Authorization document at the time. Garcia said her son was sent to the Delaney Hall Detention Center in Newark, N.J., and transferred to a facility in Pennsylvania before being flown to El Salvador, which he left in 1999 when he was 20. Now separated from his three children — 22, 19 and 16 — and jobless in a country that he has not lived in for 27 years, “he’s very depressed,” Garcia said. More than 400 protesters turned out for the March for Humanity in the Village of Hempstead on May 1, International Workers’ Day. Garcia was among them. She led the 3 p.m. demonstration through the streets of Hempstead as the sun shone
down, schools let out and commuter traffic crowded the roads. The march began with roughly 250 protesters but swelled by an additional 150 or more by its midpoint as residents and students joined in. Garcia, 65, who was born and raised in San Salvador, El Salvador’s capital, carried a circular cardboard sign that read, “ICE Out of Long Island.” The grandmother and soon-to-be greatg randmother walked with sadness etched across her face, followed by a mix of protesters, including immigrant rights activists, union workers and antiwar demonstrators. Marchers chanted slogans such as “We want justice — You say how — ICE out of Hempstead now!” and “This is for the families who are locked inside — Together we will abolish ICE!” One of the march’s lead organizers, Ashley Guardado, 36, of Hempstead, told the crowd as they were about to step off, “Thank you for coming to support our community today. This means everything COntinued On Page 3
I
am extremely, extremely thankful.