In 1991, when Sycamore Avenue's Ray Mercado was hospitalized with a rare blood disorder, his neighbors marched into Pascack Valley Hospital to donate blood for him. It's the kind of thing they would do without even telling us. They could do nothing less, said neighbor Jan Edelman. After all, she and her fiancee had spent years of summer afternoons in backyard volleyball games with Ray. He grew tomatoes and zucchini for them in his garden.
Children cement the community.
Decades ago, they splashed in the brook. Now, they wheel by on in-line skates in pick up hockey games. They bounce into view from the trampoline behind Mita Holovko's home. It's like a neighborhood. You don't ever have to worry about where your kids are.