The William Floyd High School girls’ and boys’ varsity soccer teams recently banded together to raise $1,145 to purchase meals for local first responders and healthcare workers currently fighting the pandemic. The coaches, Kaleigh Sidaras and Paul Paniccia, reached out to their teams -- and the students and their families stepped up in a big way.

The proceeds were able to provide meals to Shirley Community Ambulance, the Mastic Ambulance Company, the Mastic Beach Ambulance Company, healthcare workers in the COVID-19 units at Stony Brook Medicine and North Shore Hospital, officers with the Suffolk County Police Department’s 7^th Precinct, as well as facilities workers for the William Floyd School District.

“These kids continue to inspire me and make us proud every day,” said Coach Sidaras, who is also a fourth-grade teacher at John S. Hobart Elementary School. “They’re so understanding of the fact that there’s something bigger than themselves out there and giving back is so important. I couldn’t be more proud to be a teacher and a coach in this community with all the good that is happening in such a hard time.”

Locally, the teams partnered with TJ’s Hero Shop in Mastic Beach and Mama Lisa in Mastic to purchase the meals. Special thanks to Kim Vlacich, a team mother for both squads, for helping to organize the fundraiser.