Lynbrook to host annual Wounded Warrior event

Lynbrook firefighters will host their annual Wounded Warrior fundraiser for Nassau County Firefighters Operation Wounded Warrior on Sept. 23 at Greis Veterans Memorial Park. The End of Summer Bash will be held from 3 to 9 p.m. at the park’s recreation center.

The announcement was made by Chief Danny Ambrosio at a recent meeting of the Lynbrook Fire Department’s Wounded Warrior Committee. This will be the 12th year the firefighters have hosted the event to benefit Nassau County Firefighters Operation Wounded Warrior.

The charity is made up of volunteer firefighters, and since 2004 it has worked to help wounded servicemen and women in hospitals on the East Coast, including the VA Hospital in Northport. It is not affiliated with the national Wounded Warrior Project.

Other Nassau County fire departments hold events including spaghetti dinners, golf outings, road races and motorcycle runs to benefit the charity. Firefighters have also built new homes for the wounded.

Over the past 11 years, Lynbrook firefighters have raised approximately $250,000 to benefit the charity and families. Each Christmas, they join other county volunteers in traveling to hospitals and rehabilitation units at Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg) and Camp Lejeune, both in North Carolina, and Fort Belvoir in Virginia, and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland, to bring Christmas to the wounded and their families.

In addition, wounded soldiers who are being treated at Fort Belvoir, and their families, travel to Lynbrook for this event. The Rockville Centre Hotel, in Lynbrook, donates rooms for the soldiers and their families each year.

Three bands will perform at the fundraiser, all of them donating their time and talent to the cause.

The cost of admission is a $20 donation, and food, water and soft drinks will be available free of charge. Beer may be purchased. Children age 13 and younger will be admitted free.

Lynbrook’s junior firefighters will be selling T-shirts as well as green light bulbs. The bulbs outside a home show support for the military. One hundred of the bulbs were donated by Michael’s Electric in Lynbrook.

There will also be over 175 raffle prizes, thanks to the generosity of members of the Lynbrook Chamber of Commerce, stores and shops in town and corporations that donate prizes.

One of the major sponsors is JetBlue Airways, which continues to support Lynbrook and Nassau firefighters’ efforts by donating three sets of round-trip tickets to anywhere JetBlue flies, which will also be raffled off separately that evening. The JetBlue raffle is only $10.

There will be a bounce house, donated by Lynbrook’s John Dominck Cusumano Incorporated, and a number of Touch a Truck vehicles for the children. The Touch a Truck will be held from 2 to 6 p.m. in the park, beginning an hour before the fundraiser starts at 3.

“One hundred percent of the monies raised on Sept. 23 go to help our wounded warriors and their families through Nassau County Firefighters Operation Wounded Warrior,” Ambrosio said.

For more information about the fundraiser, or to contribute or donate, call Ex-chief Kevin Bien at (516) 993-6074.

“I ask all residents and their friends to support this worthwhile cause,” Ambrosio said, “to help us make life a little easier for our wounded warriors and their families who have sacrificed so much for us.”