Brooklyn’s oldest parade will proceed as planned

Linda Rossel’s husband Charlie, a Vietnam veteran, will be ableto march down Third Avenue again this year – thanks to generouscontributions from Brooklyn and beyond.

The Brooklyn Memorial Day Parade – the borough’s oldest, now in its144th year – might not have gone on this year had it not been forprivate donations.

I think we made it, said parade Chairperson Prisco DeAngelis.Now we have to worry about next year — or we’re going to have todo the same thing over again.

The reason the parade was in recent jeopardy was because of budgetcutbacks that ended the government grants parade organizersdepended on in past years.

According to United War Veterans of Kings County Chief-of-StaffAnthony Giovinco, it will be at least another year before theparade can expect any kind of grant. Which is why he says the lineof march owes its survival to the generous donations of boroughresidents.

We wouldn’t be having the parade this year if it weren’t for theBrooklyn community, Giovinco said.

And although local politicians were not able to allocate statefunds to the cause, many of them offered their own privatecontributions. According to Giovinco, Borough President MartyMarkowitz, Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis, State Senator MartinGolden, and Councilmember Vincent Gentile have all given money outof their own pockets to event organizers, The United War Veteransof Kings County.

As a community effort, this will be the most inspired parade we’vehad in a long, long time, Gentile said of the fundraisingcampaign.

However, the total amount offered by these politicians is much lessthan what they formerly gave in grants, forcing the veterans’organization to come up with rest of the $18,000-$20,000 needed tofund the parade.

In the coming weeks, there will be two fundraisers to help closethe gap. On April 21, the Bay Ridge Democrats will host an event atthe Longbow Café at 7316 Third Avenue, with a suggested $20donation. On May 1, the Salty Dog, at 7509 Third Avenue in BayRidge, will feature seven bands from 2 to 9 p.m.

Once word spread that the King’s County Memorial Day Parade was injeopardy, even citizens beyond Brooklyn got in touch with the groupto help. Donations came in from destinations as far as New Jerseyand Florida. And for DeAngelis, there isn’t a more worthy causethan honoring our nation’s veterans.

We want these guys to be remembered, he said. We can’t just letthem go down as a page in a history book.