Thursday, October 1, 2026
Mother Nature threw Rockville Centre Little League a curve ball last Saturday, as a cold and consistent rain caused the cancellation of the annual Parade and Opening Day ceremonies. But the raw weather failed to dampen the generous spirit of the players, coaches and other villagers, as the Little League conducted a food drive in connection with its Opening Day that netted a record total of 3,197 pounds of food. The food was allocated and delivered to five local food collections run by the Vineyard Church, United Church of Rockville Centre, St. Agnes Parish Outreach, the Economic Opportunity Commission and Central Synagogue of Nassau County by the end of the day.
Parks and Recreation Superintendent Tony Brunetta made the Recreation Center available as soon as word of the parade's rainout hit, so that every player, coach, board member and other participant in Little League could still bring in their food donations. These individual donations were supplemented by King Kullen gift certificates donated by the Rockville Centre Lion's Club, and a staggering 825 pounds of food donated by Frank's Steak's, Nick's Pizza and Pizza Joint restaurants.
Many of the local officials who planned to participate in Opening Day ceremonies instead rolled up their sleeves to help out with the collection and distribution of the = food. They included former RVC Little League player and current Mayor Francis Murray; Deputy Mayor Nancy Howard; Village Trustees Ed Oppenheimer and Kevin Glynn; Village Administrator Keith Spadaro and longtime RVC Lions Club Officer and former District Governor of the Lions Club Hon. Anthony Paradiso; as well as Paul Cassazza, Deputy Commander of the RVC American Legion Post.
There was certainly frustration with the weather, but any irritation was ultimately overshadowed by awe at the number of people that turned up at the Rec Center in spite of it to donate food. "We are trying to teach more than just baseball to the kids in our town," said League President Tom Bucaria. "Ideally, we are trying to help them grow up to be good people who care about others, and giving them an opportunity to participate in a food drive is part of those efforts. The outpouring of support today clearly demonstrates to our kids that people in this community care about others that are not as fortunate as they are, and I am extraordinarily grateful for everyone who turned out to donate today."
Little League board member Brian Turner was responsible for organizing the food drive, and said he was overwhelmed by the turnout and the generosity.
The disappointment with the weather and the cancellation of the festivities was particularly acute given the fact that this year's ceremonies were going to feature two new elements one of which is a Challenger Division, in which developmentally and physically challenged children are paired with buddies and will get a chance to experience the game of baseball. The ceremonies were to have honored Rockville Centre veterans for the first time and had coordinated with American Legion Post 303 to have representatives of every war since World War II present at the ceremonies, with the veterans set to throw out the first pitches of the season. Echoing an age-old baseball refrain, however, all the groups agreed to "Wait 'til next year!" for the joint ceremonies.
— Joseph Hissong
