Wantagh High School's 'Warriors for a Cure' still going strong

Wantagh High School is doing its part to knock out cancer, with two groups of students raising more than $45,000 combined for cancer research.

Warriors for a Cure is the high school’s chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, a New York-based charity that raises money to find cures for leukemia, lymphoma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and myeloma, and to  improve the quality of life for patients and their families.

The Warriors got started during the 2020-21 school year at the height of the pandemic. Then-seniors Nick Bifone, Ashley Reisert and Haley Leimbach formed the chapter and started out by raising more than $100,000 for cancer research that year. As a result, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society named them the 2021 Students of the Year.

Now led by seniors Caitlin Wiffler and Sean Brown, the group is still going strong. Skyla Marchesi, the 2021-22 salutatorian, and the rest of last year’s team nominated Wiffler to lead the effort this year.

“They nominated me to be a candidate for this year,” Wiffler said. “And when I thought of someone to do it with me, I immediately thought of Sean.”

In what has become the first post-pandemic school year, this year’s Warriors were able to do a lot more field work than past teams, who did most of their fundraising virtually.

“The original team did things like selling cookie dough, and running tents at local marathons to raise money in a Covid-friendly way,” Wiffler said. “We continued that, but were able to do a lot more in-person stuff.”

The official dates of the fundraising were Feb. 2 to March 23, but the team got a lot of work done before then.

“We had about 25 team members, which was more than past years,” Brown said. “Each team member, of course, asked their family and friends to donate. But we also ran events at local bars and restaurants, and we also did one at the St. Patrick’s Day parade.”

The Wantagh St. Patrick’s Day parade is the largest one on Long Island, according to the Wantagh Chamber of Commerce. The Warriors had set up a tent across from the Wantagh Inn, and since the inn’s owner, Mike Dunphy, was the parade’s grand marshal, the effort paid off.

According to Wiffler and Brown, advocacy is also essential to the cause, so even if they weren’t able to get donations from everyone they spoke to, raising awareness was a crucial part.

One fundraiser was held at Ridgewood Station Tavern, owned by the parents of team member Gianna Paccione, Brown said. “We sold raffles, gave out wristbands, and just talked to people,” Brown added. “It was great to raise awareness even when we weren’t getting donations.”

Both Wiffler and Brown singled out the Ridgewood event as their personal favorite.

Wantagh High School also has formed a second team, called “Strike Out,” in an effort to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Justin Bifone — Nick Bifone’s younger brother — and Alex Bonanno of the high school’s baseball team have been chosen to lead that second group.

While the Warriors and Strike Out never held a joint event, they communicated effectively to spread the word and, combined, raised more than $45,000.

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has three pillars — research, patient support, and policy and advocacy. The Warriors for a Cure won this year’s Mission Award for Policy and Advocacy, thanks to the amount of work team members accomplished in getting the word out about the society’s cause.

“I hope this has turned into a Wantagh tradition,” Brown said. “It has gone on for three years now, and we just hope it becomes an annual thing.”

School administrators have praised the work of the two teams.

“It brings out a great sense of pride to see what these kids are doing,” Paul Guzzone, principal at Wantagh High School, said. “It speaks to how great of a community Wantagh is. It shows that these kids are being raised to always do the right thing, and that both parents and students are motivated to do good things outside of school.”