2022 HONOREES
HAILEY BRANDT
RISING STAR AWARD
Hailey Brandt, currently a Senior at Long Beach High School in Long Beach, has been an active and passionate member of her class and community since her Freshman year. Looking to make a genuine impact by helping those most in need, Hailey decided to join the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS)’s Long Beach fundraising team during her Sophomore year. Founded in 1949, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is the largest voluntary health organization dedicated to fighting blood cancer in the world. The LLS's mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's lymphoma and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.
Always an extremely active participant in everything she does, Hailey found a deep sense of passion and purpose when she joined the Long Beach LLS team and decided to fully commit to the cause. Over the past three years, Hailey has spent countless hours attending meetings and workshops, recruiting new volunteers and increasing the donor network all while taking on increased leadership roles each year and working tirelessly. As a result of her and the team’s efforts, the Long Beach team has been able to creatively and successfully raise awareness of what LLS does and put together hugely successful donation events each year. The Long Beach team has become a fundraising force for LLS, and for the third consecutive year, Hailey is taking the fight to Leukemia and Lymphoma as part of LLS’, "Student Visionaries of the Year" programs. This will be Hailey’s second year co-leading this team, and she is most confident that they will exceed Long Beach’s last year record of $44,000!
As President of the Senior Class, as well as a three season Varsity athlete, Hailey is an all-around involved member of the Long Beach community. In addition to her involvement in LLS, Hailey is an IB Diploma Candidate and has also taken leadership roles in National Business Honor Society, DECA, Fragments (literary magazine), and Key Club. In her (limited) free time, Hailey also loves to travel and explore new places, attend as many concerts as possible and most of all spend quality time with her family and friends.
ROB CARLO
HUMANITARIAN AWARD
Rob Carlo was appointed a New York City firefighter in 1991 and isnow happily enjoying retired life. His retirement isn't typical though.
In 2018, Carlo joined Team Rubicon, a veteran-led humanitarian organization that serves global communities before, during, and after disasters and crises with the expressed goal of quickly responding to large-scale disasters. With Team Rubicon, Rob has trained and served as a volunteer, being deployed to Wilmington NC, Mariana FL, Panama City FL, Newport RI, Orange Connecticut, Foley County Alabama, Louisiana, recently to the west Coast of Florida for a total of over 80 days and 8 different disasters.
In 2019 Rob started a fundraiser in Long Beach called 24ON THE BOARDS. For 24 hours, Rob invites anyone that would like to join him as he rides his bicycle for 24 hours on the Long Beach boardwalk. He raises money through sponsorships, t-shirt sales and donations. In the first year he raised $19,000 for Brattleboro Retreat in Vermont for the veteran and first responder PTSD recovery program. In 2020 while training, Carlo learned his friend Shannon Boyle was the Chief Executive Office of New Ground, a non profit that helps homeless veterans locally on Long Island. He felt that was the perfect fit, and since 2020 24ON THE BOARDS has raised over $80,000 for New Ground. Funny how things work out in this small world - Rob has since discovered that Long Beach Christmas Angel had at one time helped a family New Ground had also worked with.
Although retired from the FDNY, Rob continues to live a very active and rewarding life of service through his humanitarian efforts.
THE MICHAEL DIAMOND FOUNDATION
COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD
The Michael Diamond Charitable Foundation was created in 2019, a few short months after the tragic passing of Michael Oliver Diamond Sr.
Michael Diamond Sr. was born in the Bronx on November 13, 1958—the same exact day as his future wife and love of his life, Joanne Bella. Big Mike, as he was affectionately known, spent his summers in Long Beach until he and the rest of the “Diamond Clan” made the full-time move to Lindell Blvd. before his fifth grade school year.
Michael attended Long Beach Catholic School before he moved on to Long Beach High School, where he graduated in 1977. He had countless jobs over the years; you name it, he did it. Mike was a short order cook, security guard, valet, waiter, bartender, laborer, NYC sandhog, proud New York City Policeman, and much more.
A staple in the community, Big Mike coached all of his five kids in any number of Long Beach Recreation sports and leagues. He was a regular volunteer at the Long Beach Arena’s “house hockey” league. Mike was a longtime member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians where he served proudly as its president and was awarded their prestigious “Man of the Year” award in 2003. He was a regular member of the St. Brendan the Navigator’s Irish Day Parade Committee. Big Mike was always doing something for someone, not because of the credit or attention it might garner, but because it was what he saw as the right thing to do.
After his untimely passing in 2018, a handful of Mike’s closest friends got together and started the MDCF to keep his name and spirit alive. To date, the Foundation has donated time and treasure to numerous causes: The Long Island Crisis Center, Waterfront Warriors, VFW Post 1384, Long Beach Soup Kitchen, Long Beach Christmas Angels, St. Mary’s Outreach, Hooks for Heroes, Toys for Tots, and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, just to name a few.
Moreover, in 2022, the MDCF started an annual scholarship program to pay $7,500 of tuition each for two local students (one boy, and one girl) to the private high school of their choice, and the Foundation awarded its first two scholarships this September. The Foundation also awarded its first $4,000 scholarship for a local student with need to be able to play hockey for the Long Beach Lightning travel hockey program.
Big Mike often would say: “It’s nice being nice.” It’s a simple phrase but it’s one he lived by. It’s also the motto that the MDCF operates under. Since its inception, the Foundation has committed itself to leaving our beautiful beachside community—and beyond—a little better off than we found it, because that’s what Big Mike would have loved.
Chances are, if you’re here tonight and are reading this, you probably have contributed to the MDCF in one way or another, so on behalf of our old friend, Big Mike, The Michael Diamond Charitable Foundation would like to thank you from the bottom of our heart for your steadfast support for our foundation and the causes we hold dear.
LONG BEACH SCHOOL DISTRICT'S SECURITY TEAM - with special recognition of Mr. Bill Calderone of West School
GUARDIAN ANGEL AWARD
‘Mr. Bill’ was born to John and Margaret Calderone and grew up in Lynbrook with his four siblings. Having attended Our Lady of Peace Elementary School, Bill showed early signs of watching out for students when, in seventh grade, he joined ‘the Safeties’. The very next year, he was awarded the ‘Safety of the Year’ Award. Mr. Bill graduated from Lynbrook High School and went to work as a letter carrier at the Valley Stream Post Office where he spent 30 years. While on a ski trip, he met the love of his life, Carol Nola. They married in 1979 and settled in West Hempstead where they began a family. They are the proud parents of son Billy and daughter Carolann. Ten years later, they were on the move again, this time settling in Oceanside, where they continue to reside today. In 2019, they welcomed in their son-in-law, Augi and are now over-the-moon grandparents of 19 month old Nola Margaret. They are eagerly awaiting the birth of another granddaughter who is scheduled to arrive later this month. While still at the Post Office, Mr. Bill started what turned out to be a second career in security work, moonlighting at the Nassau Coliseum and working Islander hockey games, concerts and events. In 2006, Mr. Bill took a "temporary 5 month job" as a security guard in the Long Beach School District. Sixteen years later, he is still at that ‘temporary’ job, working for Allied Universal. Initially, he was posted at numerous schools throughout the district but events quickly found him at West School, where he was given the ‘Mr Bill’ moniker. It is a name he has affectionately become known as, not only by the West End Community but throughout all of Long Beach.