JANUARY 2021 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 37
Businesses Supporting Frontline Workers
2,500 IN MARKETING BY BETHPAGE FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
Sal Motta poses with healthcare workers, his team, and his Best of LI plaque. Photo credit: Sal Motta
Certified Cesspool and Legends Bar and Grill surprise nurses at Mather Hospital
with a food delivery. Photo credit: Sal Motta
BESTOFLONGISLAND.COM • VOTERS GUIDE • BETHPAGE BEST OF LONG ISLAND 2021 157
“They were working an exorbitant
amount of hours, going above and beyond,
putting their health at risk going
into the facilities that they worked in,”
he said. “We started doing free oil
changes for them, and we were getting
a lot of positive feedback.”
The shop also partnered with a local
Italian eatery, Cafe Amici, to supply
free pizza pies to healthcare workers at
Stony Brook University Hospital.
Middle Country Automotive then
broadened its charity efforts to help
disadvantaged families in the Selden
and Centereach areas.
“20 hour had a great financial impact
on many families in and around
our community, causing a high demand
on local food banks,” Strazzeri
shared. “We started a food drive for
the charities Island Harvest and
Lighthouse Missions, offering our customers
a discount for food donations.”
As they promoted the initiative
through email newsletters, the group
saw an immense influx of donations
from clients—boxes upon boxes of
canned goods weekly— which has not
let up since. The drive has continued
with no signs of stopping soon.
“It’s phenomenal, the amount of
food that people are bringing in, the
response that we’ve gotten. It’s great to
see people wanting to help others in
the community that are in need.”
What’s truly phenomenal is how the
actions of one thoughtful and empathetic
person can trigger a chain reaction
of good deeds that has benefited so
many people.
CERTIFIED CESSPOOL
ENERGIZES HEALTHCARE
HEROES ON THE
NIGHTSHIFT
Like many small business owners,
Sal Motta didn’t think quarantine
would last very long. But as weeks went
by, the owner of the Centereach-based
cesspool maintenance firm Certified
Cesspool and Drain Inc. understood
that his business needed to adjust to
the situation quickly.
There was financial worry, as Certified
Cesspool’s commercial clients
included many restaurants and stores
which were forced to either cut hours
or shut their doors completely. Simultaneously,
with more residents staying
home all day, there was an influx of
people having issues with their cesspools
and sewer lines clogging.
“We had to adjust our lives to fit
the demand,” Motta said. “But in the
middle of it, we also realized that so
many other people were doing the
same thing, so we just wanted to help
them.”
One evening when visiting his
friend’s restaurant, Motta spoke to an
exhausted nurse who was picking up
food before heading to the hospital to
face another grueling 20-hour stretch.
“She worked the night shift, and
said that she was working nonstop,”
he said. “When I started to wrap my
head around what I could do for these
people, one of the things that stood out
to me was, a lot of restaurants were taking
the initiative to bring the food to
the day shift at hospitals. However, we
heard that when these healthcare heroes
arrived at their shift at night, there
was little to no food left.”
Additionally, restaurants had limited
hours when they were open for
takeout and delivery.
Certified Cesspool and Drain
teamed up with Legends Bar and
Grill of Kings Park to deliver meals to
the night shift at seven different hospitals
on seven different days, beginning
on Monday, April 20 and ending on
Sunday, April 26. The two businesses
supplied food to Southside Hospital,
Stony Brook University Hospital, Good
Samaritan Hospital, Huntington Hospital,
Mather Hospital, St. Catherine’s
and St. Charles Hospital. Every night,
the group was greeted by delighted
nurses who were extremely grateful for
the altruistic deed.
“We wanted to see the look on their
faces when we surprised them, because
they didn’t know it was coming,” Motta
shared.
The crew donated a total of 112 trays
of food over the course of the week,
spreading joy to healthcare workers
who were working under more stressful
conditions than ever before.
“During such a strange and difficult
time, seeing those smiles made
everything worth it,” Motta said. “Just
making that gesture, bringing that food
to them, it really made a difference. It
made so many people happy and appreciative
at a time where there really
wasn’t much to be happy about.”
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
/BESTOFLONGISLAND.COM
