Runners Club, David Lerner Associates, Donate to Fund for Fallen Officer

Two Plainview-area community institutions have donated $10,000 to the memorial fund for a fallen Nassau County Police officer. 

The Greater Long Island Running Club and David Lerner Associates presented the check after Nassau Highway Patrol Officer Michael Califano died Feb. 5 in a car crash on the Long Island Expressway. The veteran officer left behind his wife Jacqueline and three young sons.

The officer's memory is being kept alive through the Michael Califano Memorial Foundation. The running club tapped into the David Lerner Associates Long Island Police Appreciation Fund for a donation to the Califano Foundation, and the David Lerner Association chipped in with another contribution. 

In all, $10,000 was donated to the fund at the Feb. 15 Greater Long Island Running Club Meeting at the Plainview-Old Bethpage Public Library.

“Our continued ability to support our local law enforcement officers and their families in this way depends on the continuing support of the Long Island running community,” said GLIRC President Mike Polansky. “Thanks to the generosity of David Lerner Associates, every penny raised as entry fees to the annual David Lerner Associates Long Island Police Appreciation Run in June goes directly to the cause."

Polansky urged runners to join the club in that run on June 9.