Metro PT Donates 500 Pies As Smithtown Teen Expands Huntington Food Drive For LI Families

HUNTINGTON, NY — What began as one teenager’s desire to help during a government shutdown has grown into a multi-site food drive, a corporate holiday donation effort, and a ripple of community service that continues to spread across Long Island.

At just 19 years old, Smithtown resident Gabby Vetere has quickly become an energetic volunteer supporting Long Island Cares — a role she never expected, but one that feels like a continuation of her upbringing.

Vetere works at Metro Physical & Aquatic Therapy’s Huntington Village clinic, one of the company’s newest locations. Within weeks of starting her job, she launched a food drive that has expanded into local churches, and, she hopes, next, area supermarkets. Her motivation, she said, dates back years.

“My dad’s very big on always doing the right thing,” she said. “When we were younger, he would take us to soup kitchens, and we would help out there. We grew up on good morals.”

To Vetere, giving back was never framed as charity — it was framed as empathy.

“We’re all kind of in this together,” she said. “It’s a lost art to put yourself in someone else’s shoes.”

That mindset resurfaced this fall when she met a patient and Long Island Cares volunteer and Media Relations Specialist Pete Crescenti. During therapy sessions, he told her about the organization’s food distributions for unpaid federal workers during the government shutdown. Vetere’s father, Edward, who works in Homeland Security, had been directly affected.

“That was affecting him and us directly,” she said. “So I wanted to help out with that.”

She placed a donation bin at the Huntington clinic at 700 New York Ave in Huntington, then kept expanding as donations continued. Within weeks, she picked up two additional bins from Long Island Cares and began contacting churches to launch more, and then pivoted to grocery stores.

“I want to collect as much as I possibly can,” she said. “Patients bring items, my family brings items… I go to the store once a week to pick some up and fill up the bin.”

While Vetere ran her grassroots effort, Metro Physical & Aquatic Therapy was organizing its own large-scale holiday giving.

The family-owned Long Island company donated 500 Thanksgiving pies to Long Island Cares, ordered directly from Jericho Cider Mill. Keri Chouinard, Metro’s Director of Community Relations & Special Events, coordinated the donation and said the effort reflects the company’s mission.

“There are a lot of underprivileged people who we don’t get to meet, but we still want to help,” she said. “Maybe some families didn’t get a Thanksgiving pie or didn’t have dessert. We want to reach the people who need it most.”

Chouinard said Metro’s culture—guided by owner Michael Mayrsohn —centers on compassion and community impact.

“When something like passion and kindness starts from the top, it trickles down,” she said. “He’s giving, he’s caring, he reaches out — and that’s why all of us do it. It’s a very close-knit, family organization.”

Metro offers Physical, Occupational, and Speech therapy, plus many more specialty treatments in addition to in-home therapy. Metro has grown from 11 clinics in 2020 to what will soon be 60 locations, and participates annually in Toys for Tots and other charitable initiatives. Metro Physical & Aquatic Therapy is family owned for over 40 years, with a network of locations to make it easy and convenient for patients

“Long Island is very important to us because of our roots,” Chouinard said. “We want to stay true to being a family-owned company and embracing the community.”

Though only a few months into her job at the Huntington Village clinic, Vetere has become involved with community outreach. She promotes the drive to patients and family, helps manage donations, and collaborates with staff members. She credits physical therapist Jade Geddrie for helping get the drive off the ground.

“She does a great job letting everyone know we have it,” Vetere said. “A lot of the things I want to do, I have to run by her, and she’s been a big help.”

Vetere and her family also participate in the "Angel Tree" program by purchasing gifts at local stores for families in need during the holiday season. The Salvation Army Angel Tree program provides new clothing and toys to more than one million children in need each year.

“Everyone should be getting something on Christmas or Hanukkah,” she said.

She points repeatedly to her father — and to her younger sister, Natalia, 15 — as the reason she feels compelled to help.

“He’s the hardest-working guy I know,” she said. “My sister and I wouldn’t be who we are without him.”

Natalia shares the same instinct. Vetere said her sister often nudges the family to think differently about giving.

“If we’re shopping and something is expensive, she’ll say, ‘You can buy it — or put it in the donation box,’” Vetere said. “She impresses me every day.”

Visiting Long Island Cares’ Huntington Village food bank convinced Vetere that she wants to stay involved beyond the holidays.

“Seeing the people in there makes you want to help,” she said. “You don’t need to buy that $80 pair of jeans — you can make a child happy on Christmas instead.”

She hopes to add a winter coat or clothing drive soon, even if the clinic cannot host it on-site. For now, the Huntington Village Metro PT location remains the primary site for her food-collection effort, while Toys for Tots donations can be made at multiple Metro clinics across Long Island.

“It takes ten minutes out of your day,” Vetere said. “It’ll change someone’s entire week.”