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Fair East Meadow business owner is fighting for charity
Sal Ferro, of Alure Home Improvements, to participate in boxing fundraiser
It’s one thing to fight for a cause that you believe in, but it’s another to physically fight for it, which is exactly what East Meadow business owner Sal Ferro is doing. On Nov. 25, Ferro, the president and CEO of Alure Home Improvements on Hempstead Turnpike, will step into a boxing ring at the Long Island Hilton in Melville and compete in the 10th annual Long Island Fight for Charity.
Created in 2003 by L.I. businessmen Jeff Cohen, Matthew Silver and Jamie Austin, Long Island Fight for Charity benefits several local charities, including the Long Island Community Chest, the Genesis School, and Family Residences and Essential Enterprises. During the event’s first eight years, more than $700,000 has been distributed to a various Long Island Charities.
Ferro, who will be 50 on the day of the fight, is no stranger to charitable work. His company has done renovations of eight homes in conjunction with the popular show, ABC: Extreme Home Makeover, which Ferro said was an “incredibly, stressful, physical and emotionally demanding experience.” But added, “The reward at the end was immeasurable.”
That gratifying feeling motivated him to continue his charitable efforts, and he said chose the Fight for Charity because he always admired the event, and because he also wished to challenge himself. “I wanted to raise money in a different way,” Ferro said. “It’ll push me more personally, more from a physical and emotional standpoint.”
Ferro has no formal boxing training, and said his experience is limited to light martial arts training as well as some backyard sparring with his brother in his youth.
Nonetheless, he began training earlier this year at a gym near his Commack home, and, with the event nearing, he said he’s stepped up those efforts recently.
Ferro will participate in one 3-round bout, and is among 22 competitors who signed up this year. Around 1,000 people will be in attendance for the event, and Ferro said the prospect of stepping toe-to-toe with another boxer in front of a large crowd doesn’t frighten him. “I’m not going there to fight,” he said. “I’m going there to raise money for some real worthy causes.”
