Diocesan News

Bellerose School Garden Memorializes Slain Cop

June 18, 2015
Students from St. Gregory the Great School, Bellerose, prepare the P.O. Brian Moore Memorial Garden that will be dedicated June 20. It honors the police officer who was murdered earlier this year while on duty in Queens Village.
Students from St. Gregory the Great School, Bellerose, prepare the P.O. Brian Moore Memorial Garden that will be dedicated June 20. It honors the police officer who was murdered earlier this year while on duty in Queens Village.

After the tragic death of police officer Brian Moore, 14 Catholic schools and academies within the Diocese of Brooklyn teamed up with the NYPD’s 105th Precinct in Queens Village to raise funds and build a memorial garden in his honor.

The garden dedication ceremony, street naming and 105th Precinct presentation will take place on Saturday, June 20, from 6:15 to 7:30 p.m. at St. Gregory the Great School, located at 244-44 87th Ave. in Bellerose. The ceremony was planned in conjunction with the 36th annual Gregorian Summer Festival, run by St. Gregory the Great parish and school.

“Our festival runs for 11 nights and this is a very large area so security is a major concern… Police Officer Moore had been a frequent contributor towards the security effort here, so he was well known to the people of our community,” said Msgr. Edward Ryan, pastor of St. Gregory the Great.

St. Gregory’s students were eager to create a vegetable garden for Moore and to raise money with a blue dress down day “to show solidarity for his family and brothers in blue.”

Facebook posts about it went viral and 13 other Catholic schools jumped on board to support them. Team Depot of the Elmont Home Depot, L.I., also chipped in by providing their expertise, materials and labor to build the garden.

“At the dedication, we are going to write a check in the name of all of the schools for the NYC Policemen’s Benevolent Association Widows’ and Children’s Fund,” said Lynn Alaimo, principal of St. Gregory the Great School.

Moore-garden1Other participating schools include: Ave Maria Catholic Academy (CA), Howard Beach; Holy Angels CA, Bay Ridge; Notre Dame CA, Ridgewood; Our Lady of Grace School, Gravesend; Our Lady of Guadalupe School, Bensonhurst; Our Lady of the Snows School, N. Floral Park; St. Anselm CA, Bay Ridge; St. Brigid CA, Bushwick; St. Elizabeth CA, Ozone Park; St. Ephrem School, Dyker Heights; St. Margaret School, Middle Village; St. Pancras School, Glendale; and St. Thomas the Apostle CA, Woodhaven.

“We are so grateful to the community as a whole and to St. Gregory’s,” said Detective Javoda Cooper, 105th Precinct. “This is awesome and we can’t wait until the ceremony.”

Details regarding the Gregorian Festival, which features live entertainment, food, rides, games and prizes, can be found at www.sgtgfestival.com.