by Trevor Dugan
Commack North Little League Treasurer Justin Oland spoke to Axcess about today’s Family Fun Day charity event at Cedar Road Park pic.twitter.com/iZkHWY7Oo0
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) June 7, 2025
Cedar Road Park played host Saturday to Commack North Little League’s annual Family Fun Day. The end of year event has been going on for over 20 years, and this year saw one of the biggest turnouts yet.
The charity event featured a raffle of over 40 prize baskets, each one organized and provided by teams of the Commack North Little League. Free food, drinks, games, and live music were provided to all who attended.
Mets legend Dwight Gooden made an appearance to support the day’s charities, raising money through signing autographs and taking pictures with fans. The Cy Young winner even demonstrated to some young players how he would grip his renowned “Lord Charles” curveball.
Also in attendance were the famous Mr. and Mrs. Met, offering free photos and putting smiles on the faces of everyone in attendance. The younger players were especially excited to see the pair of Mets mascots.
The proceeds of the day’s events were split three ways between the featured charities, Rachel’s Dance for the Cure, the John Theissen Children’s Foundation, and Sunrise Association.
Rachel’s Dance for the Cure was founded by Aimee Antorino and her son Anthony, a senior on the Commack varsity baseball team, to honor the memory of her daughter Rachel, who passed away from cancer. The foundation raises money through the sale of shirts and wristbands as well as donations. Antorino donates her proceeds to Stony Brook Cancer Center to help the Oncologists there to continue providing exceptional care to young cancer patients.
“Commack North Little League has been so helpful to us,” Antorino said. “They just awarded my son Anthony the CNLL scholarship to help pay for his college, which is very helpful as he’s going to Penn State to study business this fall.”
John Theissen started his children’s foundation 33 years ago after being diagnosed with a brain tumor at just 17 years old. Based in Wantagh, the foundation assists sick and disadvantaged children across Long Island, helping with medical bills, providing free parties at their brand new “family fun center” in Wantagh, and even providing children with free tickets to MLB games through their new initiative “Skip’s Fund”, named after a former member of the foundation who passed away in a tragic accident. Theissen also runs an annual toy drive for children in need.
“Last holiday season we collected 133,000 toys in six weeks,” Theissen told Axcess. “It was a huge success.”
The third charity benefiting from the CNLL Family Fun Day is the Sunrise Association. Sunrise “brings back childhood pleasures to children struggling with cancer,” according to their website, through summer day camps and other in-hospital programs.
This year’s family fun day was a smashing success, with thousands of dollars being raised through raffle ticket sales and Gooden’s autographs. Although there is no official count just yet, League Treasurer Justin Oland is hopeful that the league has surpassed last year’s total of over $8,000.
Oland spoke to Axcess as things wrapped up about the day and Commack North Little League’s reasons for supporting charity
“A few years ago a man by the name of Kevin Flood who unfortunately lost a child to cancer suggested we use this as an engine to raise some money and awareness,” Oland said.
“From there it has grown exponentially. Unfortunately in Commack, like every other town, someone has been touched by cancer, so it’s just something we like to do to give back to the community by working with local charities.”
Baseball is very important to the community of Commack, and the Commack North Little League is proud to host Family Fun Day every year. They hope to see it continue to grow along with the league and raise even more money for local charities in the future.
