Spreading Holiday Joy and Giving Back
About Get Involved**Over $28,000 dollars in donations generated for those less fortunate**
Alex was born and raised in Howard Beach until age 8 then moved to Levittown. Alex and his wife Cindy purchased their home in Dix Hills in 2013. He felt an immediate sense of community, warmth, and kindness in the neighborhood. Alex is the owner of Konstant Design, a graphic design and print company (designing and producing signs and clothing, etc). He thrives on creativity and is immersed in art and imagination on a daily basis.
Alex and Cindy were blessed with two boys in 2015 and 2018. Alex is a huge Star Wars fan and an extreme car enthusiast. You will very often find him playing in the front yard with his two young sons, washing his cars, or driving his sons around the neighborhood in their green gas-powered go-cart. He hopes to continue to bring our neighborhood together.
Justin was born and raised in Lynbrook and met his wife, Christine, a Dix Hills native, at SUNY Albany. They purchased their home in Dix Hills in 2013, only a few houses down from Alex and Cindy. Justin and Christine were blessed with a girl and boy in 2014 and 2016. The family loves Dix Hills and the surrounding community.
After working for nearly ten years for large, international law firms, Justin founded his own law firm, Stevenson Marino LLP, in 2017, with a focus on employment law and commercial litigation. Today, Stevenson Marino has both recovered millions of dollars on behalf of employees, as well as saved employers millions of dollars in defense of employment claims. Justin is the Secretary for the Huntington Lawyers Club and the Treasurer for the Columbian Lawyers’ Association of Suffolk County, Inc.
Community Involvement: Justin was on the board of the 4 Towns Civic Association, which was instrumental representing local residents’ views in connection with the planned Heartland Project. The Heartland Project would have been one of the largest planned developments in Long Island’s history, thus putting a tremendous strain on natural resources and the local high-trafficked community without the requisite infrastructure in place.
In June 2020, Justin solicited donations from neighbors in the community to purchase over 100 lunches for two shifts of police officers at the Suffolk County Police Department, Second Precinct. The purpose was to demonstrate the communities' appreciation for their work. Ultimately, the lunches were delivered to the Second Precinct on June 17, 2020.
On November 28, 2020, Alex was decorating the streetlamp in front of his house like a candy cane – with red and white lights. Decorating the streetlamp was a tradition Alex started ever since his first son was born, as his son loved looking out the front window of the house to see the pole illuminated in the evening. As Justin was talking with Alex that day, Alex mentioned that he would love to have all six streetlamps on their block wrapped in lights, just like his home. Justin immediately jumped on the idea, knowing that he and Alex could convince all of the neighbors on the block to agree to run an extension cord from their home to their streetlamp to provide the electricity for the lights. They then purchased the lights and day/night sensors (so all streetlamps would turn on and off at the same time), as well as extension cords to ensure there were no impediments preventing all lights on their block to be illuminated.
Thereafter, Justin and Alex obtained permission from each neighbor and installed lights on every streetlamp that evening. Justin and Alex split all the costs, with one neighbor contributing for the costs for his streetlamp.
Within an hour of the streetlamps on Justin and Alex’s block being illuminated, other neighbors in the area began requesting that their streetlamps be illuminated as well – thus starting what Justin and Alex affectionally called #OperationJingleBells.
On November 29, 2020, fourteen additional streetlamps on an adjacent block were installed and illuminated, with Justin and Alex only charging actual cost for the supplies.
On November 30, 2020, other neighbors began asking for their streetlamps to be illuminated as well. This time, Justin and Alex smartened up and decided to encourage a $10 donation per streetlamp.
By December 23, 2020, Justin and Alex installed lights on 56 streetlamps on the five blocks in their neighborhood. In doing so, they were able to received $1,745 in donations, learned of $490 online donations made directly to Toys for Tots from neighbors, with one of our neighbors' employer's agreeing to match $1,265 in donations. Thus, the total donations generated within one month for Toys for Tots was $3,500!
We're happy to report our efforts for the Winter of 2022, resulted in illuminating roughly 70 streetlamps with candy cane lights throughout Dix Hills, NY. This includes candy cane lights spread across eight streets in two separate parts of Dix Hills.
In addition to spreading holiday cheer, we generated just over $11,300 for Tri-CYA – a local charity in Huntington that gives to kids in Huntington. Unlike prior years, many neighbors are now putting up their own lights (which is wonderful). As a result, we physically installed fewer lights this year than the prior year. That said, our community was still illuminated for all to see.
A special thanks to the Karmaniolos, Marino, and Gaudioso families, who each donated $1,000 (or more). Further, a huge thank you to one of our neighbors, whose employer matched $5,000 of donations.
At the conclusion of the Winter of 2021, over 70 streetlamps were illuminated with candy cane lights throughout Dix Hills, NY. This includes over 90% of all streetlamps in the neighborhood of Kinsella St., Bonaire Dr., Winmere Pl., Shoreham Dr., Perri Pl., and Athena Ct. This was an exciting year, as we also branched out to another neighborhood in Dix Hills thanks to Janice and Bill Puglisi, who helped coordinate lights in their neighborhood. As a result, 14 streetlamps on the streets of Pine Edge Place and Pheasant Run in Dix Hills were also illuminated with candy cane lights.
The best part of our collective effort is that we generated $13,643.95 forTri-CYA – a local charity in Huntington that gives to kids in Huntington. Debbie Rimler, the Director of Tri-CYA, was incredibly grateful for our efforts and advised that with our contribution (which more than doubled their budget for toys this Winter), they were able to give toys to each kid, instead of stocking stuffers. Tri-CYA served over 900 families this Winter. The specific breakdown of the donations is as follows:
| Homeowners who had lights installed | $3,429.75 |
| Neighbors in the community | $3,638.20 |
| Neighbor outside the community (Marotta Family) | $1,000.00 |
| Neighbor’s Employer Match & Add’l Contribution | $5,576.00 |
| Total Donations as of 12/21/21 | $13,643.95 |
While the average donation per household with streetlights was $50, we had twenty-five neighbors donate $100 or more. In fact, the highest donations above $100 included the following: two $1,500 donations, $1,000 donation, $250 donation, $200 donation, and $175 donation. We thank each of you, regardless of the amount, for your generosity.
Overall, the $13,643.95 in donations we generated during the CYE 2021 absolutely blew away our prior collected donations during the CYE 2020 of $3,500 by adding an additional $10,000. We’re collectively humbled by the outpouring of support from our neighbors. Candy cane lights brings the neighborhood together, as it is not a religious-based effort, but rather an effort to spread holiday cheer while giving back to those in need.
By December 23, 2020, we illuminated 56 streetlamps with candy cane lights on the five blocks in Justin and Alex's neighborhood. As of December 23, 2020, a total of $3,500 has been donated to Toys for Tots. The breakdown of the donations is as follows:
| Homeowners who had lights installed | $510.00 |
| Neighbors in the community | $1,595.00 |
| Friends outside the community | $130.00 |
| Neighbor's Employer's Match of Donations | $1,265.00 |
| Total Donations as of 12/21/20 | $3,500.00 |
Aside from the employer matching, just over 60 individuals made a donation, with the largest donation of $155 and six neighbors donating $100 each. A reconciliation of all donations will be provided to any donor who requests it. Just email jmarino@stevensonmarino.com.
We note three additional neighbors requested their streetlamps be illuminated on or after December 5, but we ran out of lights and sensors to accommodate their request. Those neighbors will be first on the list for 2021! Also, three other neighbors set up their own lights, which means 59 streetlamps were illuminated in our neighborhood.
Justin and Alex will continue to illuminate the streetlamps in their community for years to come, and hopefully continue to obtain more and more donations for those less fortunate. That said, the goal is to spur other individuals within communities to replicate what we have done. The only way to do so, however, is to obtain volunteers to set up lights.
We will be working on this website to solicit volunteers, identify individuals with streetlamps who want candy cane lights, and then to solicit donations. We will streamline the process so putting candy cane lights in your neighborhood is something that can easily be done.
Anyone interested in donating to those less fortunate, please do so by going to: https://www.mightycause.com/organization/Tri-Community-And-Youth-Agency If you make a donation, please let us know so we can include the amount in our totals.
If you are a homeowner that (1) wants to illuminate the streetlamp in front of your home in 2021, (2) does not have a sidewalk, and (3) is willing to run an extension cord to the streetlamp, please let us know. We will soon create a formal reservation and payment system so your request and payment can be handled seamlessly. In the meantime, please email me at jmarino@stevensonmarino.com to make a request. The cost for the lights and sensors depend on LED versus non-LED lights. The breakdown is as follows:
$50 = LED Lights with day/night sensor (actual cost: $35.78; $14.22 = donation)
$35 = non-LED lights with day/night Sensor (actual cost: $20.63; $14.37 = donation)
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