Dennis Madden – vice commander of Post 1244 – “Poppa Joe” Favaloro, Mike Calderone, Rio, Ceasar Santos and Dennis Giunta with the box.By taking a mailbox headed for recycling and giving it a new mission, American Legion Post 1244 in Greenlawn has made it a little easier to properly dispose of frayed, weathered or soiled American flags.
According to Post 1244’s second vice commander, Dennis Giunta, the post, with Boy Scout Troop 32 of Greenlawn and the Greenlawn Fire Department disposes of discarded flags in a proper ceremony in which the flags are consumed by fire after a service honoring them. It is considered a show of great disrespect to throw a flag out in the trash.
To give people a place to drop off flags, Post Commander Bob Santo, working with Assemb. Andrew Raia (R-Huntington), obtained the mailbox from Postmaster John Juray of the Northport Post Office.
Legionnaire Rob Scarpelli took the mailbox to his Castle Collision shop for an undercoating of automotive white. Then it was transferred to Cycle-Delics of Bay Shore, a motorcycle custom paint and fabrication shop, where “Poppa Joe” Favaloro, Mike Calderone, “Rio” and Ceasar Santos designed and painted the mailbox into a flag collection box. The work at both locations was done for free, and Giunta supervised the operation.
Earlier this month, with approval from Dr. William Swart , superintendent of schools for the Elwood School District,and with the cooperation of Dr. Virginia Cancroft, principal at Harley Avenue School, the Old Glory Deposit Box was placed in the lobby of the school for parents and students to deposit their worn out flags. The box is in the James Boyd Intermediate School now and will move to the Elwood Middle School next week. It will continue to move from school to school about once a week, according to Giunta.
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