RESCHEDULED: Andrew Desiderio Bike Ride Honors Late Mineola Student

MINEOLA, NY — The charity bike ride benefiting the Andrew Desiderio Scholarship has been moved to Sunday at 9 a.m. because of forecasted rain on Saturday.

Originally on Saturday, Dec. 3, Mineola residents planned to meet at Bethpage State Park to bike, remembering a Mineola High School alumnus who died in a tragic hiking accident last year at age 21, weeks before he graduated from Binghamton University.

Andrew Desiderio was well-known in the Mineola community, where he was a junior lieutenant in the Mineola Fire Department. He was a mechanical engineering major, and an Eagle Scout with many friends in Mineola and Binghamton. He loved the outdoors, Binghamton University remembered when he died in April 2021.

The second annual Organized Chaos Bike Ride starts at 9 a.m. at Bethpage State Park. Attendees should meet at the polo fields parking lot. The bike ride begins at 10 a.m.

After Desiderios' death, his parents created the Andrew Desiderio Memorial Scholarship Fund, to "help fellow Mineola High School graduates pursue their passions," Mineola School District said.

Within days of its creation, the fund raised $61,000.