This is Red Bridge--a bridge that has been the connector in Great Neck for generations and once served the special needs community in a very beautiful way. Teen counselors served campers like Travis Thereault (pictured here) as Buddies for weeks in the summer months during Helping Hands Day Camp. Activities including pony rides, crafts, and swimming at a nearby neighbor's pool engaged the children and promoted their physical health and well-being. Helping Hands Day Camp was the first of its kind for Virginia Beach. Under the leadership of Phyllis Jackson, it flourished for over two decades in the 80s and 90s. It lit a fire in the special needs community that later led to the ADA-compliant Kids' Cove at Mount Trashmore, Barbe Ford's Equi-Kids Therapeutic Riding, the Early Intervention Center (also at the Red Bridge site until Dec 2021), and the Vanguard Landing Intentional Community near Pungo. Red Bridge and the entire service area of Helping Hands day camp will be destroyed if Bishard Homes is allowed to build a road & homes on the INFILL of Lake Conrad. Please sign and share this petition. The city should not approve the  destruction of almost 4 acres of it's stormwater retention area and this historically relevant site to the Virginia Beach Special Needs Community. Instead it should be preserved as Open Space, maintained as stormwater drainage, dedicated to the special needs community, and enjoyed by the residents of Great Neck as the connector it has always been.