More than 260 pizza parlors and restaurants across the Island will share a slice of Long Island Pizza Strong — a locally based fundraiser, which has gathered more than $380,000 for various causes since 2023.
This year, the event happening on Feb. 25 will direct proceeds to the family of Nassau County police officer Patricia Espinosa, a member of the Fifth Precinct and a nine-year veteran of the force, who was killed by an alleged drunk driver on Jan. 31.
Long Island Pizza Strong coordinates with participating restaurants to collect $5 for every pizza pie sold during the one-day event. Residents can take part in the fundraiser as easily as ordering a pizza.
Four Rockville Centre pizzerias are participating: Camila’s on Front St., Nick’s, 3 Brothers Pizza and Mother Kelly’s.
“My son’s a city cop, that’s number one, and I like supporting the local stuff,” said Glenn Gobetz, owner of Mother Kelly’s. “I’m just happy to do it.” Gobetz added that seeing restaurants unite for the cause matters beyond business. “I think it’s great for the community; I think it’s great for that family. I mean, that’s a tragic thing, and that’s the least we could do to try to help.”
Nick’s owner Salvatore Buglione said he and his partner, Bartolomeo Agozzino, also quickly committed to participate.
“I’m just a big advocate of helping out in situations where people are in need, and we participated two years ago with it as well too,” Buglione said.
Buglione added that the scale of participation reflects the spirit of the region.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “This is what I feel America is about. I feel in moments of despair like this, people just step up to the plate and do the right thing.”
The charity was founded in 2022 when Alyssa Guidice, Anthony Laurino and Jim Serpico pooled their collective backgrounds in fundraising, pizza making and restaurant ownership and found a way to give back to local communities. The organization connected eateries for support after three separate tragic incidents in recent years, with many establishments repeating the chance to cook for a good cause.
“We’ve done these fundraisers before,” said Anthony Alesia, co-owner of Sorrento’s of Long Beach. “I’m retired NYPD, myself. We’re just trying to give back.”
With previous iterations, Long Island Pizza Strong raised more than $180,000 in April 2024 for the family of fallen NYPD officer Jonathan Diller and first responder support groups, as well as raising over $100,000 after the Farmingdale High School marching band bus crash of 2023 and a similar amount in 2024 following the West Babylon car crash which killed two teens.
“We take part every time they do this event,” said Mike Quinn, one of the owners of Borrelli’s Taproom. Emphasizing this year’s benefit for Officer Espinosa’s family, Quinn continued, “This one hits close to home because Mr. Borrelli’s son-in-law is a Nassau County cop. We’d participate anyway, but this definitely hits closer to home.”
Noting their hiatus from tragedy-based activities in 2025, Guidice said, “To me, that’s a good thing.” The co-founder explained, “Things happen and we get requests, literally, every single day to do something. We don’t want to tire out the idea. We try to do it for the right causes and for the right reasons.”
At press time, Brixx and Barley, Francesco’s Pizzeria, and Sorrento’s of Long Beach are other confirmed locations. Restaurants — with full pizza pies on the menu — have until Feb. 22 to sign up to be a part of Long Island Pizza Strong.
