‘Mavericks’ unite for Tunnel to Towers run

Richard Tedesco

Last year, a not-for-profit group comprised of Nassau County businessmen enlisted 80 runners and walkers to participate in the annual Tunnel to Towers 5K Run and Walk honoring a New York City fireman, who ran through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to reach the site of the World Trade Towers after they were attacked on Sept. 11, 2001.

The fireman, Stephen Siller, was among the 343 firefighters who died that day when the towers collapsed.

This year, United Mavericks is hoping to draw 1,000 people to Mineola and transport them by bus to the event, which will be held on Sept. 28. The runners will follow the route that Siller running in firefighting gear took to reach the Twin Towers on the day he died.

“We wanted to make this a challenge,” said Tony Lubrano, a leader of United Mavericks and owner of the Piccolo Bussola restaurant. “It’s such a great cause, we wanted to get people involved who wouldn’t otherwise do it. We want to get people to open their eyes and realize they can get this done.”

Nick Valastro, a Mavericks leader who operates his own real estate business in Carle Place, said the run and walk represents the type of events the group likes to represent.

“It touches the character of our organization in being proactive,” Valastro said. “These people did heroic things and they should be remembered for it. That’s why we want to do this in big numbers.”

Lubrano and Valastro said the Mavericks research the causes their organization supports to ensure that all funds raised are committed for the specific cause.

“The money raised is going where it’s supposed to go,” Lubrano said.

Among those organization is he Leukemia and Lymphoma Association

The United Mavericks sponsored the third annual Night on the Town in Mineola event that raised $100,000 for the association in May.

The Tunnel to Towers 5K Run and Walk is sponsored by the Stephen Siller Foundation, which Lubrano said funds housing for disabled military veterans as its primary mission.

Runners and walkers participating in the Tunnel to Towers event with the Mavericks will donate $100, with $60 going to the Siller Foundation and $40 for the cost of buses, T-shirts and breakfast at Chaminade High School on the morning of the 5K run and walk.

Lubrano said Chaminade is donating its facilities for the breakfast and for a party the Mavericks will hold there when their group returns from the event.

The T-shirts will bear the United Mavericks logo on the front and the Tunnel to Towers logo on the back. The Mavericks are seeking a corporate sponsor to help defray costs of the event.

There will be 20 buses accommodating 50 people each taking off from Chaminade at 7:30 a.m. for the event, which steps off at 9:30 a.m.

Some individuals are paying for the buses themselves. 

Lubrano said Maverick Frank Califano, owner of FJC Family Security in Floral Park, is donating $5,000 to sponsor a bus.

In a repeat of the send-off the group had last year, members of the Mineola and New Hyde Park Fire Departments will drape a giant American flag across Jericho Turnpike in Mineola from two ladder trucks.

Lubrano said the primary message the Mavericks are seeking to convey in supporting the Tunnel to Towers run/walk is, “Anybody can do their part to change the world.”

Anyone interested in signing up with the United Mavericks for the Sept. 28 event can contact the organization through its Facebook page.

Information about the event is available online at tunnel2towers.org/event/tunnel-to-towers-5k-run-walk-new-york-city/

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