By Brian Zanzonico
They were joined by a small army of people who disregarded the drizzle and formed a fluid human ring around the football field. "Cancer doesn't wait for rain dates," said Vera Silvestri. "Neither does the fight to stop it."
Silvestri, whose son, Michael, died of leukemia at age 5 20 years ago next month, was one of 700 people who descended on Carey for Relay for Life, an overnight fund-raiser for the American Cancer Society. Fifty teams took part in the 12-hour event, which raised more than $90,000 for the American Cancer Society, sharing the walking duties.
"It far exceeded our expectations in terms of money raised [and] enthusiasm," said Carey's director of student activities, Joanne Bergbom. "It was a magical night."
Silvestri, who lives in Mineola, was leaving Garden City South at about 10:30 p.m. after visiting a friend when she passed Carey and saw huge floodlights, candles outlining the track, a small city of tents set up on the football field and people walking the track. She asked a member of the Franklin Square & Munson Fire Department what was going on, and when she found out it was a cancer fund-raiser, she parked her car on a neighboring block and walked to the school. She gave all the money in her pocket - $33 - to an American Cancer Society volunteer and walked a few laps on the track.
"It was my little way of remembering my son," Silvestri said, holding the last photo of Michael, a wallet-sized portrait, as she walked the track. "Twenty years is a long time. Lord knows what he could've become."
The idea of hosting a Relay for Life, which Valley Stream School District 13 held earlier this month, raising $90,000, was hatched last summer by seniors Lauren Stein, Nicole Crescimanno and Lena Ricioppi. Senior class advisor Cynthia Woodhouse said the girls told her they wanted to hold a fund-raising event each month of their final school year, culminating with Relay for Life in May. During the year, Stein, Crescimanno and Ricioppi led the senior class in helping to raise money to buy gifts for a local shelter for adolescent girls; organized Pennies for Puppies, a change-collecting campaign to benefit the Guide Dog Foundation in Smithtown; and pitched in with the wildly successful Orange-Aid, which collected $15,000 in less than a month for the hurricane-torn town of Orange, Texas.
Since this was the first time a Relay for Life was planned in the Sewanhaka Central High School District, Woodhouse said it took several meetings of central office administrators and approval from the Board of Education before the event was green-lighted. The girls then began getting the word out, relying heavily on word of mouth to get the entire Franklin Square community involved.
"We're proud of everyone involved," the Ryder University-bound Ricioppi said. "It started with us three and reached 700."
Why a relay?
Stein said that since most people, directly or indirectly, have lost someone to cancer, she knew the American Cancer Society would be a charity the community would support. She was well acquainted with loss. Throat cancer took her friend Allyson Bransfield when the two were students at John Street School.
"For me it was for Allyson, but everybody's doing it for someone different," said Stein, who will attend Vasser College next fall. "Everybody knows someone with cancer."
Crescimanno and Ricioppi have also been touched by the disease. Crescimanno's teenage cousin has battled bone cancer, and Ricioppi's grandmother is also fighting the disease. For Ricioppi, Relay for Life was a family affair. Her mother was the captain of her relay team, and her father, as part of the Carey Dads' Club, was head of security. "We dedicated it to my grandmother," she said. "We did it all for her."
Woodhouse said that, initially, the goal for Relay for Life was to raise $30,000. She credited the girls with staying the course when they ran into obstacles with the school district, and rallying their classmates and the community to produce one of the most successful fund-raisers in the school's 50-plus-year history.
"It's one of the best things I've seen happen at Carey, because it included every corner of the community and provided such a wonderful sense of goodwill," Woodhouse said. "It's like I told [the girls] when things got tough. When I went whitewater rafting a few years ago, the instructor told us not to look at the boulders, but to look at the passage you can take between them. Don't look at the obstacles, but how to get around them. I'm amazed at the work of these wonderful young women."
Comments about this story? BZanzonico@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 240
