Be The Best Sport Wins Nassau County Independent Party Freedom Award

Manhasset At Independence Party’s Party

Written By: Manhasset Press Staff

May 28, 2014

Manhasset residents Mamie and Matthew Fulgieri as well as Al Sontag were among those attending the Nassau County Independence Party’s fourth Annual Spring reception recently held at Oheka Castle in Huntington. Nassau County Independence Party Chairman Rick Bellando and North Hempstead Leader Matthew Fulgieri presented the party’s Freedom Award to Be The Best Sport , a Port Washington-based group that facilitates sports programs for children with special needs. Executive Director Michael Furino accepted the award on behalf of the organization.

The event drew more than 400 guests, including New York Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre).

In his presentation, Fulgieri stressed the giving nature of the Independence Party and how Furino is equally “benevolent of his time and effort to create a forum for special needs children in a sporting environment.”

Be The Best Sport is a not-for-profit organization that offers adaptive sports programs for children who have intellectual disabilities as well as physical impairments. The group holds programs in basketball, soccer and multi-sport at Unlimited Sports Action in Port Washington that expose the children to sports and help develop and strengthen their motor, cognitive, and social abilities. There’s also a Special Olympics basketball team that practices once per week and plays in a competitive league each Friday night.

Starting this month, a basketball program as well as a track and field program will be held at the Port Washington Tennis Academy. In just over one year, the group has come to serve more than 75 young athletes each week.

For more about the program, contact Furino at 516-453-0990, [email protected] or by going online to https://bethebestsport.org