Lead Mike DelGuidice sings and plays the piano at the Mike DelGuidice & Big Shot concert for the 2015 Rocky Point Concert series. File hoto by Giselle Barkley
There is a traffic advisory out for a road closing in Rocky Point.
On Aug. 30 at 7 p.m., Mike DelGuidice and Big Shot, a Billy Joel tribute band, will be performing at St. Anthony of Padua Church as part of the final Downtown Rocky Point Summer concert series.
Every year, this performance attracts thousands of people from Suffolk County and the surrounding tristate area.
The Downtown Rocky Point Summer Concert series allows resident to enjoy free musical performances and also helps support local businesses. Organizations such as Long Island Cares, Suffolk County United Veterans, the Rocky Point Rotary, and the North Brookhaven Chamber of Commerce will also be in attendance to provide information about their programs and services.
Be advised, due to the anticipated attendance, the Suffolk County Police Department will be closing Main Street in Rocky Point from Rocky Point Landing Road to Broadway at 5:30 p.m. The road will reopen at the end of the concert.
A photo of Julia Diane Wilson is surrounded by her cousin, Ava Felice; Anna Lanze, and Julia’s best friend, Heidi Lanze. Photo by Donna Newman
Ten-year-old Julia Diane Wilson of Sound Beach lost her battle with acute lymphocytic leukemia two years ago this week.
Family and friends — both old and new — marked the anniversary with the second annual Team Julia — Fight Like a Girl memorial fundraiser held Aug. 21 at Stony Brook Yacht Club.
Mary Byrne, holding her son, Declan, who sports a Team Julia T-shirt. Photo by Donna Newman
Julia’s grandparents, Dan and Diane Donahue, are longtime Setauket residents and this is the second year the fundraiser was hosted by the yacht club, where they are members.
The building was filled with supporters of all ages, from infants to senior citizens. Gift baskets were raffled off, T-shirts were sold and donations were accepted. Led by Julia’s parents and grandparents, the event seemed more a celebration of the girl’s life and spirit rather than a memorial.
This support group was an outgrowth of Julia’s compassion for others. Even while undergoing treatment herself, she wanted to make things better for the children around her. So the adults in her life committed to doing just that for Julia.
“Grandma, when I get better … Mommy, when I get better … we have to help these kids,” Diane Donahue recalled her granddaughter saying. She spoke of creating things at the hospital and watching Julia bring them to the child in the next bed, hoping to make him or her smile. “She was a true jewel — way beyond her years,” she said.
Team Julia is all about supporting children and their parents. They create goody bags to distribute at Stony Brook Children’s hospital. They help parents pay bills, and stock the pantry at the hematology/oncology clinic at the hospital with easy meals and snacks to help families through the long chemotherapy and infusion days. They also plan to feed families at Ronald McDonald House. Last year Julia’s father Dave Wilson said they created a prom for the children at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in the city, bringing in lots of dresses for the girls to wear.
Brian Donahue shows off a spider on his face. Photo by Donna Newman
Julia’s mother Erin Wilson wants to start a group for bereaved parents. She feels there isn’t enough support for the grieving process, as losing a child to cancer usually involves months and months of treatment and hope.
Julia’s grandmother said the group considers educating the public, including representatives and senators in the U.S. Congress, another one of its top priorities.
“I don’t think anybody’s aware of it until they are in it,” Diane Donahue said. “And when you’re in it, it’s not a group you want to belong to, but I’ll tell you what, you can make a difference.”
She joined the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, sent messages to her congressman and lobbied the folks who control the lighting on the Empire State Building to light it up gold, the color symbolizing pediatric cancers. “They’ve made it other colors, but they won’t make it gold for the children,” she said.
According to the National Institute of Health’s website focusing on childhood cancers, an estimated 10,380 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in children aged birth to 14 in the U.S. this year. More than 1,200 children are expected to die from the disease. Pediatric cancer death rates have declined by nearly 70 percent over the past 40 years, but cancer remains the leading cause of death from disease among children.
Strawberry Fields, a Beatles tribute band, performed a free concert at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Rocky Point. Photo by Greg Catalano
Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket) introduces Strawberry Fields, a free Beatles tribute concert, at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Rocky Point. Photo by Greg Catalano
Strawberry Fields, a Beatles tribute band, performed a free concert at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Rocky Point. Photo by Greg Catalano
North Shore residents danced the night away as Strawberry Fields, a Beatles tribute band, performed a free concert at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Rocky Point. Photo by Greg Catalano
Strawberry Fields, a Beatles tribute band, performed a free concert at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Rocky Point. Photo by Greg Catalano
Strawberry Fields, a Beatles tribute band, performed a free concert at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Rocky Point. Photo by Greg Catalano
Strawberry Fields, a Beatles tribute band, performed a free concert at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Rocky Point. Photo by Greg Catalano
Strawberry Fields, a Beatles tribute band, performed a free concert at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Rocky Point. Photo by Greg Catalano
Hundred flocked to Rocky Point to see Strawberry Fields perform a free Beatles tribute concert at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Rocky Point. Photo by Greg Catalano
Strawberry Fields, a Beatles tribute band, performed a free concert at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Rocky Point. Photo by Greg Catalano
Strawberry Fields, a Beatles tribute band, performed a free concert at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Rocky Point. Photo by Greg Catalano
Strawberry Fields, a Beatles tribute band, performed a free concert at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Rocky Point. Photo by Greg Catalano
Strawberry Fields, a Beatles tribute band, performed a free concert at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Rocky Point. Photo by Greg Catalano
Strawberry Fields, a Beatles tribute band, performed a free concert at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Rocky Point. Photo by Greg Catalano
Strawberry Fields, a Beatles tribute band, performed a free concert at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Rocky Point. Photo by Greg Catalano
On Aug. 23, and despite Suffolk County Legislator Sarah Anker (D-Mount Sinai) being unable to attend, Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket) introduced Beatles cover band Strawberry Fields as the second-to-last free concert as part of a four-part series this summer at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Rocky Point. Hundreds flocked to see the band perform early and later songs in the Beatles’ career and danced the night away as band members rocked the stage. Mike DelGuidice and Big Shot, a Billy Joel tribute band with roots in Miller Place, will perform the last concert of the series on Aug. 30 at 7 p.m.
The Veterans Comedy Assault team performs at the Comix Comedy Club at Mohegan Sun. Photo from Facebook
VFW Santora and Bonacasa Memorial Post 400 presents Comedy for a Cause featuring the Veterans Comedy Assault Team on Aug. 27, 8 p.m. at the Moose Lodge in Mount Sinai.
The Veterans Comedy Assault Team started in January 2015 as a part of Project 9 Line, a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to helping veterans with reintegration back to civilian life, and help those veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The team is made up of veterans from Long Island.
Since it’s inception, the group has performed various shows on Long Island as well as at the Broadway Comedy Club in Manhattan and the Comix Comedy Club at Mohegan Sun.
Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door, and all proceeds from this show will benefit a veteran family in need.
To purchase tickets, call 631-806-1699. Visit www.veteranscomedyassault.org for more information about the organization.
Two people embrace at a lights of Hope event two years ago. File photo by Heather Khalifa
In honor of Overdose Awareness and National Recovery Month, Lights of Hope is returning to Port Jefferson.
On Aug. 31 at Memorial Park on the Harbor in Port Jefferson Village, Dan’s Foundation for Recovery, a 501(c)3 non-profit based in Stony Brook that is dedicated to helping substance abuse addicts find a new direction, and Magnolia New Beginnings, a Massachusettes-based organization that advocated for those affected by addiction, are inviting those near and far to a candle lighting.
The event, which will begin at 7 p.m., marks a day to remember those lost to drug overdose, and support those who are struggling or are still in recovery. Guest speakers will be present, as well as live acoustic music during the lighting of lumières.
All proceeds generated from a raffle will help someone who is struggling to get into and pay for rehab.