When New Hyde Park Memorial alumni Dan Connor and Mike Kelly started the The Gladiator Fund of New Hyde Park in 1989 to give financial support to local families with children afflicted with serious disabilities, Connor figured the initiative would last five years.
But with preparations being made for the 24th annual Gladiator Fund Benefit Dinner on April 5 at The Inn at New Hyde Park, the fund has exceeded all of Connor’s expectations.
“It’s just incredible that we’ve gone this long, that we’ve found so many children in New Hyde Park alone,” said Connor, who is chairman of the fund. “It’s a little bit of help,”
This year’s fund recipient will be John Kiley whose five-year-old son Matthew is autistic.
And like past years, Connor has a strong connection to the recipient: Connor coached Kiley on the New Hyde Park Memorial High School football team where the two men developed a friendship. And like Kiley, Connor is a graduate of New Hyde Park Memorial High School – Connor in the class of 1975 and Kiley the class of 1981.
Kiley said in addition to the award he has been gratified by the number of phone calls he has received from people he hasn’t heard from in years.
“It’s amazing,” Kiley said of the award and the response he has gotten since the Gladiator Fund revealed plans to make the donation.
Connor, who now works as a licensed social worker for a private company helping homeless people find housing in New York City, has also been a welcome source of advice about his son’s problems, Connor said.
Kiley said he plans to buy some high-tech aids for his son with the money from the Gladiator Fund.
“We want to get him his own computer. There are a lot of apps especially for him,” Kiley said.
He said he also wants to purchase a tracking device for his son to wear.
“He wanders off, but he won’t wear an I.D. bracelet. And he’s not going to say who he is,” Kiley said.
Kiley said Matthew appeared healthy at birth, but before he was two years old, his doctor said he wasn’t talking enough. He told Kiley something was wrong with Matthew, and he subsequently diagnosed as autistic.
His son, Kiley said, has shown signs of improvement, verbalizing more since he’s been attending kindergarten at the Hillside Grade School this year.
“He’s very smart, very smart. His memory is better than mine,” Kiley said.
At the April 5 event, Connor said the New Hyde Park Lions Club and the Greater New Hyde Park Chamber of Commerce will also present checks to help the Kiley family.
The process of soliciting donations has been largely by word-of-mouth since the fund was founded, Connor said. He said the first beneficiary of the fund was a developmentally disabled child whose family received $5,000 to help with costs of medical treatment.
Connor attributes the fund’s longevity to the generosity and camaraderie of New Hyde Park Memorial High alumni.
“It’s all in the neighborhood. We’ve all stayed connected through class reunions. It’s a real tight community,” Connor said.
The Gladiator Fund, he said, has raised nearly $130,000 to help families with medical costs for children with various disabilities since it was founded.
The primary link among the Gladiator Fund members is a common connection through high school sports, Connor said.
He also has received a big helping hand from his family. Several of his seven brothers and sisters also serve on the 15-member Gladiator Fund board with him.
The annual dinner is one of the organization’s two big fundraisers each year. The other event, the fund’s 24th annual golf classic will be held at Clearview Golf Course in Bayside on Sept. 13.
