Kicking for a Cause: A Long Island Community Comes Together for Children

My son showed me another side of America on Sunday.

With an election approaching, division can feel like the country’s constant condition. We encounter it on television, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, and neighborhood apps. But on October 25, I walked into a room on Long Island and saw people putting their energy into something that would help others.

My son had volunteered to participate in a Kick-A-Thon with his Tae Kwon Do school. I knew little about the event beforehand. I went to watch him perform.

I left grateful for the people who made it possible—and reminded that we can contribute something meaningful with the time, abilities, and resources we already have.

A Community Put Its Abilities to Work

Grand Master K.Y. Lee’s Tae Kwon Do hosted the 2026 Kick-A-Thon fundraiser at Lindenhurst Fireman’s Pavilion, bringing students from different branches of the school together for a shared cause.

Children and adult martial artists participated. Their presentation reflected practice, preparation, and the guidance of their masters and instructors.

Watching them perform was a joy. They were putting skills they had worked to develop toward a purpose beyond their own advancement.

My son had a free Sunday. He chose to spend part of it participating.

As a father, that made me proud. I want him to develop confidence and discipline through martial arts. I also want him to understand that something he learns can become something he gives.

The event offered that opportunity to everyone taking part.

Together, the fundraiser raised nearly $3,000 for the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Center Foundation, supporting its work with Stony Brook University Hospital and Cohen Children’s Medical Center.

The performances, raffle donations, organizing, and community support all contributed to that accomplishment.

The Work Before the Performance

An event like this begins well before families arrive to watch.

The masters and organizers reached out to local businesses, gathered donations, coordinated support, and brought participants together. That meant going from business to business and asking people to contribute to the cause.

Children and adults practiced and prepared for the presentation. Instructors devoted time to helping them get ready.

That work deserves recognition alongside the performance itself.

The Tae Kwon Do organization provided the leadership that brought these contributions together. It created a way for people with different abilities and resources to participate in the same effort.

Some could perform. Some could teach. Some could donate. Others could help organize or encourage the participants.

Each contribution had a place.

You do not have to do everything to become part of something that helps.

Helping Children Receive Care—and Stay Safe

The fundraiser’s flyer identified the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Center Foundation at Stony Brook and Cohen Children’s Medical Centers as the beneficiary.

The materials distributed at the event explained the importance of care designed for injured children. The brochure described the need for diagnostic and treatment equipment suited to children’s smaller bodies, appropriately equipped pediatric trauma facilities, and trained care providers.

It also described efforts to prevent injuries.

One panel outlined the KPTC Service Leadership Committee’s involvement in the Safe Kids program under the supervision of Northwell health educators. Its educational activities included a bicycle-riding robot and working traffic light for safety lessons, along with another robot that teaches swimming safety.

Another panel described a partnership with Cohen Children’s Medical Center involving distracted-driving education for high-school students. Driving simulators help demonstrate the dangers of texting, cellphone use, and other distractions behind the wheel.

These concerns reach into everyday family life: children learning to ride bicycles, spending time around water, and eventually getting behind the wheel.

The event supported the foundation’s broader mission; the materials did not assign its proceeds to a particular treatment or program. They did explain the purpose behind the effort: helping protect children and supporting care suited to their needs.

The booklet’s cover invited people to “Help Us Make a Difference!”

That Sunday, the community answered.

The People and Places That Made Room

The local fire department helped make the gathering possible by making the facility available.

Local firefighters and police officers were also part of the support. Uniformed participants took part in the opening ceremony, which included the national anthem.

Chamber-of-commerce members and community leaders gave their time and encouragement. Families came to support the martial artists and the fundraiser.

Together, these contributions helped turn an organized activity into a community occasion.

A suitable place to gather matters. Leadership matters. So does having people willing to lend their presence, assistance, and support.

I appreciated seeing those parts of community life come together around the children.

The adults were helping raise funds, but they were also providing an example. Young people could see people making time for service and treating their participation as something worthwhile.

The Small Businesses That Show Up

Local small businesses in communities such as Farmingdale, Lindenhurst, and Amityville contributed items for the fundraising raffle.

These were neighborhood businesses—mom-and-pop establishments putting something of their own behind the effort.

That generosity deserves to be remembered.

We often know a business through what it sells or the service it provides. We know the person behind the counter or the place we stop on the way home. Events like this reveal another part of its role in the neighborhood.

A donated item helps a raffle succeed. The raffle contributes to the fundraising total. That money supports a cause concerned with children’s well-being.

This is one reason supporting local small businesses matters: we saw them supporting the community.

When we choose where to shop, whom to recommend, or which business to thank, those contributions deserve consideration.

A purchase, a recommendation, or a word of appreciation can help sustain the relationships that make future efforts possible.

You Can Be Part of the Help

What I saw that Sunday was a practical example of people using what they had.

The martial artists brought their training. Masters and instructors brought their experience and leadership. Businesses brought donations. Civic supporters and families brought time, encouragement, and contributions.

Those resources became a fundraiser that raised nearly $3,000.

That is a useful lesson for anyone wondering whether they have enough to make a difference.

You may have a skill someone needs. You may have an afternoon to volunteer. You may be able to donate an item, help organize an activity, or support work already underway.

My son chose to participate. So did the children and adults beside him, and the people whose preparation and generosity made the event possible.

I hope the young participants carry that experience forward: the understanding that they have something to offer and that their effort can become part of a larger accomplishment.

A Future We Can Help Build

I am proud of my son. I am proud of everyone who practiced, prepared, and participated. And I am grateful to the people who provided the leadership and support behind the day.

To the masters, instructors, organizers, local businesses, chamber-of-commerce members, community leaders, firefighters, police officers, opening-ceremony participants, donors, and families: thank you.

You supported a cause serving children. You also gave the young people in that room an opportunity to experience service for themselves.

What happened in Lindenhurst offers an example worth carrying beyond Long Island. Other communities have their own skills, relationships, organizations, and needs. People can bring those resources together and put them to work.

That is an expression of the America I believe in: people recognizing a need and contributing toward it.

At Sunday Dinner Media, we believe these stories deserve attention. They help us recognize the strength already present around us and the opportunities we have to participate.

I went to watch my son perform.

I came home reminded that making a difference can begin with giving some of your time to something beyond yourself.

Across social media platforms, online chat rooms, news commentary, blogs, and political websites, discussions so often circle around problems. Influencers and commentators keep the arguments going. Maybe that is one of America’s biggest problems: we spend so much time focusing on and identifying problems, and not enough time helping to find solutions.

At this Kick-A-Thon, the martial artists, children, adults, organizers, local businesses, and community supporters did something different. They recognized a need, came together, and worked to help with a solution.

They put their time, skills, and resources into helping—and raised nearly $3,000 to support children’s care and safety.

The Sunday Dinner Question

What could you give—your time, your skills, or your support—to help turn that same spirit of cooperation into action where you live?