JUNE 5TH   2010  - STRIKE OUT BREAST CANCER – KIDS MARATHON JUNE 5^TH 2010

The DHAA\ST. Bernadette Organization is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization which primarily focuses on the organization of sports programs for our community.  Our civic purpose is to foster community service amongst the youth in our area.  With our greatest efforts, we also try to focus our attention to strengthen and ultimately empower our children’s sense of civic engagement and nationalism as they progress through adolescence.  In order to promote this in our children, the Knights Organization continues to sponsor community events during each sports season to raise money\ goods for various causes.    From 2006-2009, through several different fund raising events (and your generosity), the Knights and our kids have successfully raised money to contribute to many wonderful causes in our community and a good portion of these funds were donated to our military heroes through the Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund.  

Our first big fundraiser will again be a runners’ marathon for children to be held on Saturday June 5th, on 12th Avenue, starting from 9:00 a.m. and ending at 12:30 p.m.  It will mark our fourth annual kid’s marathon.  Our 2010 “Strike Out Cancer marathon will be held to raise money for a disease that hits close to home and seems to affect every family in some way whether it affects a sister, a grand parent, an Aunt or friend it seems to be all around us.  

In 2010, The DHAA has teamed up with the American Cancer Society and will be sponsored by NEWS 12.  We decided that the marathon kid’s funds will be donated to a Breast Cancer Research.  Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women in the United States (other than skin cancer). Breast cancer incidence in women in the United States is 1 in 8 (about 13%).   In 2009, an estimated 192,370 new cases of invasive breast cancer were expected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S., along with 62,280 new cases of non-invasive (in situ) breast cancer.  Cancer research has led to real progress in the prevention, detection, and treatment of breast cancer. Continuing research offers hope that in the future even more women with breast cancer will be treated successfully.   Doctors all over the country are conducting many types of clinical trials (research studies in which people volunteer to take part). Clinical trials are designed to find out whether new approaches are safe and effective.   Doctors are trying to find better ways to care for women with breast cancer.They are studying many types of treatment and their combinations. 

We will try to raise as much money as we could with this kid’s marathon. All our kids will wear different color T-Shirts and wrist bands honoring all our sisters, moms, grandmothers, aunts, cousins, other relatives, friends, neighbors that have fought breast cancer and have survived and those that fought the valiant fight but did not survive.  I am sure that this each of us has someone that is close to them that was affected by this terrible disease.    The race will consist of boys and girls, ages 5 through 16, who wish to give something back to the community in which they live, as well as to honor all women affected by this terrible disease.  Each child will obtain sponsorships of for the run.  All the runners will start on 82^nd Street and 13^th Avenue – go to 66^th Street and 12^th Avenue and then back again.   Participants may also walk instead of running.   If you are interested in participating, please register online at www.knightsaa.org.

FEBRUARY 10TH 2010 ANNOUNCEMENT - ESCAPE SCHOOL PRESENTS KIDS SAFETY SEMINAR AT ST. BERNADETTE ON FRIDAY EVENING MARCH 12TH AT 7:30 P.M.

Oct 24th  2009 - Halloween Party 2009

The Dyker Heights Athletic Association/St. Bernadette held its 6th annual Halloween party fundraiser Saturday, Oct 24^th at St. Finbar's.  The event which was full costume was attended by some 300 people.  The party featured superb music by DJ Ralph Danna, and incredible magician performance and more hot food and delicious ghostly desert treats than one could eat.   The party was an incredible success with great music, arts and crafts for the kids, many different games, dancing all night and many terrific costumes.  There were prizes for the best male and female and best dressed family.    Many, Many thanks to "Not Just Chicken", L&B Pizza, Villabate Pastry, Aunt Butchie's for their tiredless support of our endeavors to raise money for the program.  Also, we thank Danny and Laura Mangano for organizing the entire event for the DHAA.     

September 11th 2009

The Knights held their second annual adult only  disco celebration at Club Suite this past weekend.  The Knights would like to extend a special thanks to Danny and Laura Mangano for putting together this wonderful celebration and fun evening for all 110 people in attendance.  The Knights would like to thank all those that have served our children as a member of the Knights organization throughout the years.   There was plenty of hot food, great music by the house DJ and everybody was in a great, dancing mode. 

FREEDOM IS NOT FREE III CHILDREN'S MARATHON DRAWS 240 KIDS

May 16th 2009

The Dyker Heights Athletic Association and St. Bernadette parish hosted the third annual  children’s runners’ two mile marathon on Saturday May 16^th, on 12th Avenue.    The event raised $ 15,000.00 There were over 240 kids that ran in our Freedom is Not Free III marathon that was held in honor of our fallen heroes of this war on terror.  Each runner wore a t-shirt and wrist band to honor and commemorate the fallen heroes.   The kids were asked to obtain pledges to run and the funds raised were to benefit the Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund and the Dyker Heights Athletic Association fund raising activities.   The Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund was founded in October 2003 as a means of providing College Grants and Financial Assistance to surviving children and spouses of our U.S. military service members who have lost their lives in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.   Monsignor Caserta, Senator Marty Golden, Councilman Vincent Gentile & Tony Ntellas of the Wounded Warriors Project were all present to show our kids how important this event was and how wonderful a cause it truly was.   Each gave brief speeches about the struggles that our great nation has endured during our history to secure our freedom and the continuing struggle that is going on today to protect what we take for granted day in and day out.   JOs Girgenti (our former President) also gave a very touching speech about respecting our soldiers and how much their families are impacted when they are off fighting for our freedom.  

There were several soldiers present on Saturday to run with the kids.      Also present was Colonel Roy Campbell from Xavier High School with several of his ROTC cadets.     Colonel Campbell’s Xavier High School raised $ 1,700.00 for the event for the Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund.   Christine Brunetti did a spectacular job singing the National Anthem.  The race was from 82^nd street and 13^th avenue down 12^th avenue to 66^th street and back to 82^nd street.  The kids ran according to the grades.  Winners of the 8^th, 9^th and 10th grade group were  Julian Morelli (12:30), John Kelly (12:34) and Danielle Cowan (14:29)  Winners of the 6^th and 7^th grade group were Cameron Kakuk (14:33) Michael Galbo (14:46) and Manny Giurato (15:27).  Winners of the 4^th and 5^th Grade group were Alex Konyk (16:11)  Peter Pisciotta (17:21) and Matthew Mangano (18:01).  Winners of the 2^nd and 3^rd grade group were Bianca Cannata  (18:08) Michael Caso (19:14) Gianna Mastrapasqua (19:14) Daniel Vittiburga ( 20:00) and Michael Cordi (20:01)  Winners of the K and 1^st grade were Joseph Baglivo (14:38)  Nicholas Cona (14:53) and Gabriel Caso (14:54).   News 12 was present as the event media consultant and interviewed some of the children as to what this day meant to them.  Sandy the Seagull was there from the Brooklyn Cyclones. 

There were many raffles for sports memorabilia donated by many of the New York sports teams for the event.   Home Depot donated two barbecues and did wood shop lessons with all the kids.  Party Pets and Ardvark Entertainment were on hand to entertain the kids.   

News 12 was present as the event media consultant and interviewed some of the children as to what this day meant to them.  Glitzy Chicks led by Lisa Cannata also donated the proceeds she raised during the post marathon festivities.  

 The Knights organization wants to thank all those who helped with this wonderful event.  We like to thank Monsignor Caserta.  We would like to thank Sister Joan DiRienzo for all her support and assistance with helping us reach  240 + kids participating plus helping us raise more funds by hosting free dress down for St.  Bernadette kids that raised over $ 100.00    

We would like to thank Lisa Maher and Angela Castiglione for helping us with the entire event.  They spent countless hours making sure this event went off perfectly. From fundraising to raffles – they helped us with everything.   We cannot thank them enough. 

We would like to thank Ralph Danna for being the DJ for our event and for getting Home Depot involved in our event and for getting the donations from Home Depot.  Home Depot sponsored the wood work training and also donated two barbecues plus other items to make the event more successful.

We would like to thank Ben Bay Realty for the donation of all the Coke and Diet Coke for the event for the raffle of the Wii game and the PSP game that raised over $ 225.00 and their donation of another $ 250.00

We would like to thank Sarta Realty for their participation.  Sarta sold popcorn and donated all the proceeds to the marathon.  That plus their personal donation added another $ 500.00 for the marathon.

We would like to thank Tony Ntellas of the Wounded Warriors Project for participating in our marathon and increasing our awareness of veterans that need our love and support.  Wounded Warriors project also donated Yankee tickets to all the first place marathon winners.  I would also thank Pat Giura for getting Tony to join us. 

I would like to thank the Bay Ridge Dojo (Prof Mike Junsch and Prof Nic Alonso) for cancelling their normal Saturday class to join us.  They came and setup mats and equipment to entertain our children and educate them on the advantages of learning self defense.  Bay Ridge Dojo also donated over $ 400.00 worth of free training plus they made another donation to the Childrens Fund on their own. 

We would like to thank Valerie Casella for getting News 12 to be our media sponsor, For getting donations from Best Buy, donations from Carvel and all her committee work.  For spending the entire event selling pictures and other items to help raise more money for the event. 

Donna Brennan for helping us get Glitzy Chicks, Colonel Campbell, the Xavier cadets and for getting the Xavier students involved with our event and all the hot dog and hamburger buns and all her committee work.

We would like to thank Danny and Laura Mangano for their donations of all the giveaways that the kids went home with that day.  For the donations of food, candy, paper goods etc.  For their donations of several baskets of toys and games for the raffles.  I want to thank Laura for her committee work being my line judge the day of the event. 

We would like to thank Vicki Galvano for all the incredible baskets she prepared and donated besides all the help they gave us with the raffles and on the committee.

We would like to thank Joe Amatore for getting us a donation of Pepsi and Diet Pepsi, Joe and Dina for their donation of a bike to raffle and his committee work

The Dyker Heights Athletic Association would like to thank Colonel Campbell and Xavier High School for their involvement in our DHAA St. Bernadette FREEDOM IS NOT FREE III marathon fund raiser.  We will also like to thank Colonel Campbell for the hosting the dress down day at Xavier High School that raised $ 1,700.00 over and above the funds we raised for the Children’s Fund. 

We would like to thank Carrie Pittman for getting News 12 as our media sponsor and for their coverage of our event and the reporting of the event that night on the news. 

I would like to thank all committee members.    We would like to thank Kerry Angilletta for her committee work and and Dom Angilletta for lending us the barbecue and to Dom for being the “cook” for the entire day.    We would like to thank Lisa Cannata for entertaining the kids with Glitzy Chicks and her donation of her staff’s time and all her supplies.   We would like to thank April Scanio for her organization of the nurse stations, all her supplies and her committee work.  We would like to thank Seema Pisciotta for manning one of the workstations as well.   We would like to thank Marian Messina for her distributing of flyers on 12^th avenue and her hanging of Street Closing signs and her committee work.  We would like to thank Lisa Mangano for selling tickets for the Glitzy Chicks that day as well.  We would like to thank Stephanie Politano for selling raffles for us the entire day.  We would like to thank Joe Girgenti for his wonderful speech and all his introductions.  We would like to thank Danny Mangano and Jerry Campanella for their work on the 50/50 raffle. 

Finally, we would like to thank the following Knights Board Members 

Cliff Keeling, Tom Mangano, Mike Baglivo, Jim Wilson, Jim Pisciotta, Jerry Campanella, Joe Donohue, Santo Galbo, Dan Mangano, Bob Tarallo, Lisa Maher, Angela Castiglione, Joe Castiglione, Vin Chirico, Bob Gentile, Graceann Soave, Ralph Danna, Joe Amatore, and Chris Lamonica that met that morning to setup the school yard for the event and for cooking all day long and for all their help running all the activities for the entire day. 

The Knights organization wants to thank all our following sponsors that donated to this wonderful event. 

13^th Avenue Florist

86th Street Meat Market   

Andrea Ciccone

Aviator Sports & Recreation

Bachman Foods Inc

Bay Ridge Dojo

Bay Ridge Toyota

Bayside Fuel Oil Depot Corporation

Bella Luna

Ben-Bay Realty

Blue Diamond Fuel Oil Co.

Brooklyn Botanical Garden

Brooklyn Cyclones

Caesar’s Wines and Liquors

Carvel Ice Cream on 86^th Street

Casa Calmari

Century 21

Chelsea Court Meat Market

Chelsea Piers

Classic Tile

Clem Snacks, Inc.

Costco

Crest Office Products

Da Tommaso Restaurant

Dennis McCarthy

Edible Arrangements

Faicco’s

FPL Foods, Inc – C-Town

Gargiulos Restaurant

Home Depot

Island Heights Pediatrics

Jimmy’s Place

Joe Leopoldi Hardware Store

Kraft & Kennedy, Inc.

L& B Gardens

Lioni’s

Marty Golden

Medieval Times

New Dimension

New Jersey Devils

New Jersey Nets

New York  Giants

New York  Jets

New York Liberty

New York Yankees

NY Hall of Science

Pastosa

Patricia Laudano Realty

Pepsi

Puritan Restaurant

Ralph Aievoli & Sons

Red Bulls

Rippe and Kingston

Rocco’s Café

Romantique Limousines

Rosa Pizzeria

Sarta Realty

Scarpaci Funeral

Silverman Sclar Shin & Byrne PLLC

Sirico’s

St. Bernadette Home School Association

Staten Island Yankees

Tasty Bagels

The Ljubich family

Torregrossa Funeral Home

U.S. Coffee

Upper Deck Silk Screening

U-T-Z Potato Chips

Vegas Diner

MAY 12th  2007

The Dyker Heights Athletic Association and St. Bernadette parish hosted a children’s runners’ two mile marathon this past  Saturday May 12^th, on 12th Avenue.   

The Dyker Heights Athletic Association and St. Bernadette parish hosted a children’s runners’ two mile marathon this past  Saturday May 12^th, on 12th Avenue.    There were over 240 kids that ran in our Freedom is Not Free marathon that was held in honor of our fallen heroes of this war on terror.  Each runner wore a t-shirt and wrist band to honor and commemorate the fallen heroes.   The kids were asked to obtain pledges to run and the funds raised were to benefit the St. Bernadette church and the Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund   
 

The Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund was founded in October 2003 as a means of providing College Grants and Financial Assistance to surviving children and spouses of our U.S. military service members who have lost their lives in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.   Monsignor Romano, Senator Marty Golden, Councilman Vincent Gentile & Brooklyn Boro President, Marty Markowitz were all present to show our kids how important this event was and how wonderful a cause it truly was.   Each gave brief speeches about the struggles that our great nation has endured during our history to secure our freedom and the continuing struggle that is going on today to protect what we take for granted day in and day out.   Marty Markowitz presented the Knights with a Proclamation declaring May 12^th Dyker Heights Athletic Association “Freedom is Not Free” Children’s Marathon Day in Brooklyn commending all the young runners who had come here today in service of others.  

There were several soldiers present on Saturday to run with the kids.   1^st Sgt Mannion, Captain Sullivan and Staff Sgt Devito.  joined the kids from the from the 773nd TC.   Captain Rivera, Sgt Dominquez and Specialist Rodriguez joined us from Fort Hamilton army base.  Each chose a group of kids to run with.   Also present was Colonel Roy Campbell from Xavier High School with several of his ROTC cadets.     The Xavier cadets along with Arielle Tramontano led the kids in singing the National Anthem. 

The race was from 82^nd street and 13^th avenue down 12^th avenue to 66^th street and back to 82^nd street.  The kids ran according to the grades.  Winners of the 8^th, 9^th and 10 grade group were Julian Morelli, Anthony Congiusta and Dominick Congiusta.  Winners of the 6^th and 7^th grade group were Steven Lowe, Joseph Watson and Frank Bellia.  Winners of the 4^th and 5^th Grade group were Jonathan Rando, Manny Giurato and Ralphael Ventra.  Winners of the 2^nd and 3^rd grade group were Tyler Hunter, Matthew Mangano and Nicole Sparacio and the winners of the K and 1^st grade were Bianca Cannata, Raymond Donohue, Gianna Mastrapasqua, John Prestipino, Nicholas Angilletta and Daniel Vittiburga. 

News 12 was present as the event media consultant and interviewed some of the children as to what this day meant to them.  WKTU radio thanks to Vito Bruno sent down a crew to host a post marathon party to raise additional money for the Children’s fund.  Glitzy Chicks led by Lisa Cannata also joined WKTU for the post marathon festivities.   There were many raffles for sports memorabilia donated by many of the New York sports teams for the event.   This was truly a great day for the kids. 

December 17 2006 - Knights run Toys for Tots drive and raise over 120 gifts

The Knights ran there own toys for tots program this 2006 Christmas season and gathered over 120 toys for the program.  The Knights wish to thank all the families that donated to the drive.  

October 7 2006

 

September 30 2006

The Knights players and families marched in the RAGAMUFFIN PARADE this past Saturday Sept 30th 2006.   The Ragamuffin Parade is an annual tradition in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn where kids dress in Halloween costumes and march down third Avenue.  Danny Mangano and Cliff Keeling were on hand to help the kids carry the Knights banner down third avenue.   Some of the Knights that were present were Monica Mangano, Sabrina Mangano, Cliff Keeling, Deanna Keeling, Bianca Pisciotta, Stephanie Poulos, Kristina Angilletta, Matthew Mangano, Kimberly Nicolucci, Alexa Colontino, Rose Maxwell, Alexandra Colletti, Gillian Colletti, Chris Lamonica, and Alexa Poulos.  

OCTOBER 29TH 2005

The Dyker Heights Athletic Association/St. Bernadette held its 3^rd annual Halloween party fundraiser Saturday, Oct 29^th at the Regina Youth Center.  The event which was full costume was attended by some 250 people.  The party featured a DJ, and incredible six room haunted house and more hot food and delicious ghostly desert treats than one could eat.   The party was an incredible success with great music, dancing all night and many terrific costumes.  There were many great prizes for the best costumes in each age group (boys and girls) and for the best family costume.  This event is held every year to help support the Association with its extra capital expenses associated with maintaining the Victor Allegretti field at 17^th avenue and Shore Parkway , maintaining the St. Bernadette gymnasium and other facilities plus the purchasing training equipment for each sport.  The Association has grown over the years and now serves over 550 of our community kids in Baseball, Softball, Flag Football, Basketball and Indoor Soccer.  

The Knights wish to thank all of the volunteers who helped make this event a hugh success but especially our Halloween  committee.  The Dyker Heights Athletic Association would also like to thanks the following contributors for their generous donations and support:

Panda Sport & Golf  9217-5^th avenue, Pier Luca Hair Salon 7620-13^th avenue, B&R Floral Decorators 7413-13^th avenue, Pollina Pharmacy, 7601-13^th avenue, Modern Touch Hair Salon 1272-Bay Ridge Parkway, Dyker Heights Floral Co. 7819-17^th avenue, Party Fair 8609-20^th avenue, Gino’s Restaurant 7414-5^th avenue, Food Dynasty 1525-86^th Street, Precious Nail Salon 7311-13^th avenue, Body Fit 275-94^th Street, La Sorrentina Restaurant 6522-11^th avenue, Puritan Restaurant 1454-86^th Street, Glitzy Chicks.com (Spa & Make-over parties), Delacqua Salon & Spa 2027-86^th Street, Bruno’s Salon & Spa  6911-Shore Road, Trzaska Funeral Home 7614-4^th avenue, B&A Pork Store 7818-13^th avenue, Bobby’s World Entertainment 8424-13^th avenue and AM PM Entertainment Vito Bruno  

OCTOBER 30, 2004

The Dyker Heights Athletic Association (The Knights) held its 2^nd annual Halloween Party fund raiser this Saturday at the Regina Pacis Youth Center.  The event which was full costume was attended by some 300 people.  The party featured a DJ, and incredible five room haunted house and more hot food and delicious ghostly desert treats than one could eat.  This event is held now to help support the Association with its extra capital expenses associated with maintaining the Victor Allegretti field at 17^th avenue and Shore Parkway , maintaining the St. Bernadette gymnasium and purchasing training equipment for each sport.  The Association has grown over the years and now serves over 500 of our community kids in Baseball, Softball, Flag Football, Basketball and Indoor Soccer.  

 The party was an incredible success with great music, dancing all night and many terrific costumes.  There were many great prizes for the best costumes in each age group (boys and girls) and for the best family costume.  The Knights wish to thank all of the volunteers who helped make this event a hugh success but especially our Halloween  committee:  Onofrio Rocco, Donna Brennan, Nancy Demartino Sandi Nardi, Lisa Cannata, Laura Mangano, Era Giurato, Vicky Papeo, Lisa Taldone, Cathleen Giordano, Peggy Bracco, Kerri Angilletta, Marylou Mari, Michael Mainolfi, Mike Baglivo, April Scanio, Jackie Fallon, Carmela Deluca, Meg Scala, Greg Rando, Tom Mangano and Danny Mangano.   The Knights also wish to thank all the stores and people who donated to this great fundraiser. 

OCTOBER 28, 2004

November 1, 2003

On Saturday November 1, 2003 the Dyker Heights A.A. / St. Bernadette held a Halloween party in St. Bernadette gym. The Halloween full costume event proved to be a lot of fun for all the parents and children that attended.  The kids and parents were treated to an incredible haunted house (set up in the car port in the school yard) that was done so wonderfully thanks to the help of the Knights fundraising committee and all of the volunteers.   There were so many wonderful and creative costumes ranging from ghosts, cowboys, movie characters, Roman soldiers, comic book characters, cheerleaders, football players,  and knights. The children played games and danced the night away. . The Knights held best costume contests for the children in each age group. The Knights also gave out prizes for best family and best adult costumes. Mona Lisa Bakery donated a Halloween cake for 200 people and Villabate Bakery donated several trays of cookies. Councilmen Vincent Gentile came by to visit the Knights party and he donated cookies and cake.

The Knights would like to give sincere thanks to all the people in the committee that worked so hard to make this party a hugh success.  Our organization could not thank you enough.  The Knights would like to thank the Nicholas Rando, Santo Orecchio and Ron Guzman from Xaverian High School. The Knights also would like to thank Amanda Terrone, Donna Russo, Kerry McCabe, Tara Vafiadou, Danielle Murphy and Jane Bassolino from Fontbonne Hall Academy. And a big thank you to a Fontbonne Hall Academy graduate Natalie Fascianella who always come back to help the Knights.