What started as a few garage sale tables in Gina and Vincent Centauro's backyard has grown into a year-round community hub where donated treasures help change lives.
The founders of Rescuing Families, a nonprofit that provides financial assistance, resources and home renovations for families facing disabilities and financial hardships, recently hosted the organization's annual fundraiser at its Franklin Square Thrift Boutique last weekend. The event brought together local residents, donors and community partners to raise money for families in need while celebrating the spirit of giving that has defined the organization from the beginning.
"We started doing fundraisers in our backyard," co-founder Gina Centauro said. "Our house is on the corner, and we have a very big backyard, so we used to do garage sales for charity."
As the sales grew, so did the support. Volunteers and neighbors donated items, and the family's property eventually transformed into a sprawling fundraising event.
"It began to take over our yard," Centauro said. "We had 1,900 square feet of garage sale, much bigger than this store, with carport tents. Our neighbors were lovely. Everybody contributed."
Eventually, the logistics became too much to manage. After taking a brief hiatus, the Centauros found a permanent home when the Franklin Square storefront became available.
"We said, 'This is perfect,'" Centauro recalled. "We're able to continue, and we're not out in the weather."
The couple, both avid vintage shoppers, saw the boutique as an opportunity to create something different from a traditional thrift store. Inspired by vintage shops they frequented in Suffolk County, Brooklyn and Manhattan, they curated a collection of antiques, collectibles and vintage items dating from the early 1800s through the early 2000s.
"We're avid vintage shoppers," Centauro said. "We have friends who own vintage shops in Huntington, so I'm always inspired by that."
Centauro said the couple wanted to bring a vintage shopping experience to Nassau County, where those types of stores are less common.
"We said, 'Why don't we do something that's a little different?'" she said. "We started as kind of a thrift and nostalgia-type store, and then we went full-on vintage."
Today, every item sold in the boutique is donated. Volunteers also visit estate sales and garage sales, encouraging homeowners to donate unsold items instead of throwing them away.
"We've gone to people's homes at the end of their estate sales and cleaned everything out so it didn't go in the dumpster," Centauro said. "We hate to see things thrown away."
Behind many of those donations is volunteer Andrietta Calderone, who has helped secure contributions for the nonprofit since 2018. Calderone first connected with Rescuing Families after attending one of the organization's yard sales and soon began volunteering. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she helped coordinate donations of personal protective equipment for hospital workers, a role that grew into organizing donations several times a year.
Calderone maintains a detailed spreadsheet of potential donors, regularly contacts businesses by email and coordinates pickups with volunteers once donations are confirmed.
“I was born with a developmental delay, and when I found out what they do, I fell completely in love with it," Calderone said. "It touches my heart because I have a disability, so I know I am giving back to the community that helps me."
Donations arrive from across Long Island, including Queens and Brooklyn, giving shoppers a constantly changing selection while supporting the nonprofit's mission.
This year's fundraiser also featured Brian Barry, founder of Long Island Creative Arts, whose organization provides scholarships to students pursuing music, theater, film and other creative fields. Barry partnered with Rescuing Families for the event, combining the two organizations' charitable missions.
Barry said his nonprofit grew out of a memorial fundraiser he organized in 2005 after the sudden death of a close friend, Joshua Brandon, store manager at what was Luna Music in West Hempstead. The event raised more than $3,000 and funded the first Joshua L. Brandon Memorial Music Scholarship. Since then, Long Island Creative Arts has expanded to offer six annual scholarships recognizing students in music, science and community service, with plans to add a countywide Nassau scholarship next year.
"What they do is a 24/7 job," Barry said of the Centauros and Rescuing Families. "People recognize the good that's being done and say, 'We want to get on board. We want to contribute.'"
For the Centauros, the fundraiser continues a tradition that began in their backyard years ago — neighbors helping neighbors and turning donated items into meaningful support for families in need.
