Mineola 2013 Night on the Town Continues Research Cause

Harry Zapiti started Night on the Town to support Corpus Christi and St. Aidan’s in the mid-nineties when the Catholic schools were in danger of being shut down when they were running out of money.

“They actually raised our tuition 30 percent,” Zapiti recalls.

Each year the Mineola-based event raised between $40,000 to $50,000, which was given to PEACE parents association who distributed the money as they saw fit to whatever programs they felt needed assistance.

“If it wasn’t for Fr. Bob, none of this would have ever started,” Zapiti said of Fr. Robert Kirwin of St. Aidan’s, singling him out during a speech.

Corpus Christi School eventually closed, but the Night on the Town was revived in 2010 after Piccola Bussola owner Tony Lubrano’s father Pasquale passed away from leukemia with the night now dedicated to raising money for research for both leukemia and lymphoma. The Pasquale Lubrano Community Service Award is named in his honor. Last year the event raised over $70,000 for research. The final amount raised at the 2013 event is still being determined.

This year on May 22 the ballroom and dining hall of Jericho Terrace was once again filled with numerous restaurants from around Mineola as well as a silent auction and live entertainment from New York’s Most Dangerous Big Band, opera singer Cristina Fontanelli as well as master of ceremonies Gina Giordan.

“You really can’t buy that kind of talent – these are friends,” Zapiti said.

This year the event also recognized Frank Ferrante, who is now a survivor of stage 1 liver cancer.

Ferrante, who was 73 at the time of his diagnosis, used to take 48 hours straight of chemo every other week.

“I never took a Tylenol, I had no other disease,” the now 75-year old said. “I play my tennis, I built a gym in my house 30 years ago and people go to gyms today.” “The answer to surviving cancer: keep going forward, don’t look back because you or I cannot change it.”

Former NY state Sen. Michael Balboni, the 2012 honoree, recalled that he met Ferrante at church and then realized what an impact he had on people when he was invited to Ferrante’s box at the U.S. Open.

“One of the things he tells me is ‘I still play tennis and I used to be this champion of tennis’,” Balboni siad. “And you realize that this unassuming, gentle man who only wants to give of his heart has done amazing things in his life but we would never know about it.”

Ferrante’s doctor, Dr. Vincent Vinciguerra of North Shore-Manhasset, was also honored for his successful treatment.

“I normally don’t seek out these events, but when I found out what this was about and who was running it – I did some research also, by the way – so I decided to come here,” he said.

Vinciguerra helped to develop a program for local cancer treatments for leukemia and lymphoma so patients did not have to travel.

“Our goal now is to keep making better treatments and we believe that one day we will all be able to celebrate a victory on cancers,” he said.

When asked about what helped him overcome his cancer diagnosis, Ferrante said that “I never say ‘no’. The reason why I never say ‘no’ because as a child I was raised without a father and my grandfather said ‘do good and forget, do bad and remember’ and the reason I survived, I give thanks to my wife, my children, grandchildren, my friends, my cousins, my family.”

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