One-hundred ninety-five pizzerias across both Suffolk and Nassau County participated in an island-wide noble effort to raise money in honor of the victims of a car crash in West Babylon last month that resulted in the death of multiple teenagers.
According to “Long Island Pizza Strong,” $5 for every pizza sold by restaurants participating that day would go directly to the victims' families—including Bella Trezza, 17, and Riley Goot, 18.
Trezza was behind the wheel and Goot in the passenger seat when they were fatally struck by a 33-year-old driver who ran a red light on September 21. All three were killed, while 18-year-olds Austin Trezza—Bella’s brother—and Jack Murphy, and 16-year-old Anthony Pagliuca sustained injuries in the crash.
Goot was killed immediately, while Trezza died days later in the hospital. The family of the latter donated her organs soon thereafter.
"Two women in their thirties received her kidneys and a man in his sixties received her liver, all saved by Bella's act of grace and her family's decision to say yes to donation,” said LiveOnNY president and CEO Leonard Achan. “These three recipients and Bella will now live on.”
South Shore staples like Gio’s Pizza and Renzo’s Pizza (East Islip); Mary’s Pizza & Pasta (Islip Terrace); Anthony’s Pizza (Mastic Beach); La Supreme Pizza, Mama’s Pizza, Pizzaiolo Eater, and Pizza Network (Oakdale), Donatina’s, Italiano Pizza & Food, and Nonna’s Pizzeria (Oakdale), and Carlo’s Pizza (Shirley) were amongst those involved in the ultra-charitable endeavor.
“I just wanted to send a huge thank you to everyone who came out to support Long Island Pizza Strong for The Trezza’s of West Babylon,” Mike of Mike’s Underground Pizza in Amityville wrote. “Your generosity and love means the world, and together we’ve made a real difference for the family impacted by this tragedy. Let’s keep that community spirit alive!”
October 23rd marked the third fundraiser the organization has successfully coordinated. Long Island Pizza Strong previously raised $102,200 total for the families of the Farmingdale Marching Band school bus crash of September 2023 that took the lives of two adults. They also brought in $181,5000 for the family of slain NYPD Detective Jonathan Diller and the non-profits Project Thank-a-Cop, Beyond the Badge NY, and Silver Shield Foundation.
The pizzerias stopped receiving donations on Sunday, October 27th, and will not know the exact grand total of funds raised for a couple of weeks—as check collection started on Monday.
Long Island Pizza Strong co-founder Alyssa Guidice, of Hicksville, runs point on coordination affairs. Based on early indications and cross-comparing with past turnout, she estimates the West Babylon car crash victims memorial-inspired proceeds will fall somewhere between Diller’s and Farmingdale’s.
“It was supposed to be a one and done—we don’t like doing these; if we do these, it means something bad happened,” Giudice told The South Shore Press, citing that silver linings borne from tragedy do not change the overwhelming preference for these incidents to have never occurred in the first place.
The first Long Island Pizza Strong event stemmed from active planning and internal brainstorming. Guidice, a marketing manager for Bacardi, was amid issuing Memorial Scholarships for Suicide Awareness—annual charity givebacks given through her 47,000 member-deep “Dine LI” Facebook group’s extensive reach last September when the Farmingdale school bus tragedy happened.
The son of her associate Anthony Laurino of Phil’s Pizza in Syosset was on the bus. Ringing too close to home, they knew something had to be done, and that they already had enough community resources in their vast network to rely upon to help bring something together on the quick.
Together, they co-founded Long Island Pizza Strong with additional partners, including Jim Serpico, of Side Hustle Bread, who said, ‘Why don’t we get 20 pizzerias involved, and do something for 20 pizzerias?’
Another said, ‘Why don’t we do something easy every pizzeria can do: $5 off a pie? So we three that out there.”
“Being in the restaurant industry,” Guidice adds, “we thought, we’ll reach out to all the pizzerias we’re friends with to see if they want to get involved—and it grew from there.”
Now, it’s not just word of mouth. It’s social media airborne, with 4,900 followers accrued on Instagram—and counting.
“Thank you for all who helped. Every little piece helps,” said News 12 Long Island lead meteorologist Rich Hoffman. “I am a West Babylon high school graduate, class of 1990. Once an Eagle always an Eagle.”