Hempstead Community Day celebration Saturday

Help End Violence Now, a coalition of community organizations in Hempstead Village, will host the eighth annual Hempstead Community Day this Saturday to help promote ending violence in the village.

The event will be held in Mirschel Park, 90 Atlantic Ave., from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The celebration will include free food, live gospel music performances, contests and other activities. In addition, representatives from nonprofit agencies will be at information tables to provide resources and information about their programs to community residents.

A basketball tournament will also be played in memory of Hykiem Coney, a former gang member and an anti-gang activist turned preacher, who was fatally shot at age 24 outside a bar on Hempstead Turnpike in 2006.

Above: People hold hands and pray during the Helping End Violence Now (HEVN) Coalition's 7th Annual Community Awareness Day in Hempstead, N.Y. (Oct. 1, 2011)