Farmingdale Merchants Launch Round-Up Campaign For Cancer Charities

FARMINGDALE, NY — Farmingdale merchants are teaming up to create change through pocket change.

The Farmingdale Village Business Improvement District and Farmingdale Chamber of Commerce teamed up to launch a Round-Up Campaign benefitting Long Island cancer charities.

Merchants voted Babylon Breast Cancer Coalition as the inaugural cancer charity to benefit from the program, which starts on May 1.

Each month, participating business owners will vote on a Long Island-based cancer charity or cancer-adjacent charity. Merchants will ask customers if they would like to round up their bills for the month's designated nonprofit. The Farmingdale Business Improvement District will present a check to the designated charity at the end of each month.

Joe Garcia, president of the Farmingdale Chamber of Commerce, said the campaign is a "great way" to form a partnership between businesses and charities.

"It's not asking businesses to make donations directly," Garcia told Patch. "It's asking them to give the charities access to their customers and asking those customers to make a small donation to a charity. I think it's really going to connect, because it's local people donating to local charities. You're really spreading that around amongst businesses and customers, so nobody is being asked to do more than what is fair. It's asking for a little bit from a lot of people, and that is always the best way to get a real strong grassroots campaign."

A charity can win one month per year, allowing multiple charities to benefit over the course of a year.

Karen Kunkel, president of the Babylon Breast Cancer Coalition, said it is "truly an honor" to have been voted as the May recipient of Farmingdale's Round Up Campaign.

The Babylon Breast Cancer Coalition is a grass roots, volunteer-based non-profit group founded by three friends sitting around the kitchen table in Babylon Village in 1993, Kunkel said. The charity has grown and evolved over the last 32 years.

"Our goal remains the same: to assist women and men in our Babylon Township community," Kunkel said. "In 2007, we had found an urgent and pressing need to include women diagnosed and currently being treated for all gynecologic cancers."

May's participating list of businesses, subject to change, can be found here:

• ScrubzBody Skin Care Products, at 245 Main Street
• The Empanada Spot, at 850b Main Street
• Burgerology Farmingdale, at 247 Main Street
• The Villager Farmingdale, at 306 Main Street
• The Nutty Irishman, at 323 Main Street
• The Nutty Irishman Recovery Room Cafe, at 323 Main Street
• 317 Main Street, at 317 Main Street
• Vico Costiera Amalfitana, at 313 Main Street
• Angela's Bra Boutique, at 223 Main Street
• Lithology Brewing Company, at 211A Main Street
• KGI Design Group, at 280 Main Street #34

The assistance falls under the charity's Lend A Helping Hand Program, which continues to be the "driving force" of the nonprofit.

"It is where our heart lies," Kunkel said. "This program helps alleviate the added stressors of a diagnosis and the journey of our clients. The program is funded through fundraisers, sponsorships and donations, such as your Round-Up Campaign. Through this program we assist with transportation, to and from chemotherapy and radiation treatments, paying copays, electric bills, food bills, rent, house cleaning, babysitting — just those needs and expenses that are so daunting. Of course, we do have a spending cap, but with this economic climate, it is oh, so necessary to continue getting the word out to our communities to raise money. Your campaign is such a wonderful opportunity to do this for the BBCC!"

Kunkel said she is "so proud" of the work her nonprofit does. The charity also provides bags titled "Gift of Health and Inspiration" to newly-diagnosed clients; scholarships; research grants; a garden named Vision of Hope located at Lindenhurst’s Town Hall and an S.O.S — "Sense of Security" — financial program for families that have loved ones who have died of cancer.

People can learn more about Babylon Breast Cancer Coalition through a Q&A here.

Farmingdale merchants expressed their interest in joining the Round-Up Campaign.

"Burgerology has always been a neighborhood spot," owner Maria Milito said. "We pride ourselves on truly connecting with the people, places and interests of our local area. Participating in events like the Round-Up Campaign gives us the opportunity to give back in a meaningful way, which has always been a big part of who we are as a family-run business."

ScrubzBody Skin Care Products, owned by Roberta Perry, wrote in a statement that the store loves the customers and local community.

"So it thrills us to help those in need in any way we can," the shop wrote.

Manny Coelho, owner of Lithology Brewing Company, said the brewery is proud to be a part of the campaign.

"We are always grateful for the opportunity to support anything that brings the Farmingdale community together," Coelho said. "This first charity for breast cancer is especially meaningful to me, as my mother battled breast cancer while I was growing up and is now living a fulfilled life in remission. We are honored to be part of such an important cause."

Danny Castro, owner of The Empanada Spot, said there is "no greater feeling than to be able to help those in need."

"No matter how big or small the help may be, the important thing is to be involved, and this campaign helps to do just that," Castro said. "I can't wait to get started!"

Joe Fortuna, co-owner of The Nutty Irishman, 317 Main Street, Vico and The Nutty Irishman Recovery Room Cafe, said his group takes "great pride in serving the Farmingdale community."

"This means so much," Fortuna said. "And of course, we are always proud to try and help those in need."

Kim Poulos Lieberz, CEO of KGI Design Group, said she is proud to be part of the merchants association that is "supporting this very important not-for-profit."

"My biggest bit of advice is make sure you get your mammograms," she said. "If you have not gone in a few years or are afraid to go, please take my advice: Just go! Better to catch something super early and let it be nothing than wait and learn that you have to go through intensive treatment! Early detection could save your life!"

Garcia said Long Island "has always been sort of a hotbed of local incidences of cancer and raising funds for cancer charities," making the campaign poignant.

"I think it's going to have a real strong impact in reminding people that it's not just wearing pink or the other really trendy campaigns," Garcia said. "It's money. The more money made available to cancer charities, for either research or support the families dealing with cancer, the better. To do that locally really builds that connection, reminding customers, consumers and residents that there's still a lot that needs to be done in the area of cancer. And that this is affecting not just people, but people right here in their own neighborhoods, their own blocks and their own families."

Garcia said he encourages other chambers of commerce or business organizations on Long Island to find ways to "do business with a purpose."

"That purpose in helping local charities and raising everybody up," Garcia said. "The better we all do on Long Island, the better our businesses will do. There is a place for charity, and there is a place for business. When you can combine those and harness the power of each, both business owners and the charities, we will all be better for it."

Garcia said he wanted to say thank you to those who drive charitable campaigns.

"It's easy to see the charities and the businesses and the fundraising, but we sometimes forget that the people running these types of initiatives are volunteers for the most part," he said. "They are doing it to try and make a difference. I want to say that any of those people involved, thank you. Because it's not always something that is super visible, but without them working on these types of initiatives, they wouldn't happen. To the people out there making things happen, great job and keep it up."