Latest / OneLegUpAlex Media / LI PIZZA STRONG Joins Alex Garrett Podcast Network As LI Pizzerias Back the Blue on 4-17-24

Transcript

LI PIZZA STRONG Joins Alex Garrett Podcast Network As LI Pizzerias Back the Blue on 4-17-24 · OneLegUpAlex Media

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  Well. I mentioned earlier at alex at six that Eli Pizza Strong is putting
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  on a great event tomorrow to help support the men in Blue, men and
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  women in Blue and on the allow me is Alyssa behind the scenes at LI
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  Pizza Strong. Thanks for joining me tonight, Alyssa. Hi, happy to
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  be here. We are less than twenty four hours away. Are you guys
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  excited for what tomorrow is going to bring in support not only not Detective Diller's
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  family, but all of law enforcement with Eli Pizza Strong. Yeah, we're
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  super excited. We're hoping for a really good turnout and you know, the
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  support of the well now in community is fantastic, So you know, hoping
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  everyone comes out, supports and buy a pizza. I mean it's the easiest
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  thing to do. It is cool that you guys have gotten political backing as
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  well. I mean, Oyster based supervisor. Tell us about those moments when
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  you see the politicians in Nasau County, you know, come to the support
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  of this. I mean, it's great. You know, Joe Saldo was
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  a partner with us with the last time that we did this for the Farmingdale
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  Boss crash, so it was nice to see him. You know this morning
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  at our press conference and have him there and his support, and you know,
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  having some National County PD officers a Still's pizza as well. It was
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  a really great morning. I mean, this is a island wide thing.
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  I don't think people realize how expansive this is. So when you first announced
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  this, how many pizzeri has jumped at it right away? And it seemed
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  like a lot of them jumped at it right away. I would have an
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  exact number of how many jumped on right away. I think it was about
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  fifty ish, maybe eighty three, fifty and eighty And then once the first
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  announcement went out, the floodgates opened up and my phone was going nuts.
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  You know, I'm the only one who's doing all the behind the scenes work,
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  so I'm working with the pizzeri as I'm making the graphics. I'm running
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  you know, the Instagram, I'm running the Facebook. I'm you know,
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  I'm cordial for sure. Yeah. So's it's been a lot, but it's
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  been good, you know, Alyssa, we saw the professional for Officer Diller
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  and maybe woke up. The people in the city are also on living on
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  Long Island, so the connection there is very strong, and that's why you
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  have the NYPD logo, is it. Well, we are the MPD logo
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  just because of Johnathan Dillar and that he was, you know, an MPD
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  officer. But yeah, a lot of Long Island people are MPD officers.
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  I see them every day. I'm friends with them. You know. Jonathan
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  Dillar is my age, so this definitely hits home for me. And my
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  brother is going to be a Natha County cop come May. So this hit
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  home for me and so many other Long Islanders. So we're happy to do
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  it. We're happy to support the blue now that the organizers are in support
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  of tell us the names you guys are supporting as well. In addition to
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  the Diller family, we're also donating to Beyond the Badge, New York Project,
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  BANKAKOP and the Silver Shield Foundation and all of those are so great to
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  support law enforcement. This does get political. I hate to say it,
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  but and I know that's not the focus of this event tomorrow, but do
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  you hope this raise awareness and maybe to Albany. Hey, you know,
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  it changed things so that our law enforcement can be further supported as well.
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  Yeah, listen, you know we're hoping that this fundraiser gets, you know,
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  to everybody. We actually have a pizzeri in South Carolina participating, So
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  the word of this fundraiser is getting out there, and we hope that other
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  people around the country, around the world can mock this, you know,
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  and make it their own for other fallen offices or other major tragedies that happen
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  in their areas. And I know Syracuse unfortunately lost an officer too. It
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  happens almost every day, it feels like, in different parts of the country.
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  So to see them jump on board with you guys must mean a lot,
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  and it does mean a lot when you see it now spreading to South
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  Carolina. Yeah, absolutely, Well tell us exactly what's going on. I
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  mentioned the five dollars per pie and all proceeds going to the family. Is
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  that correct? The family and the three charities. So each pizzeria will split
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  their profits into non profits I'm sorry, split the proceeds into four different checks
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  and each each charity, well and organization, we'll get a check from it
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  from the pizzerias split evenly. That's amazing. And how did you guys strike
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  that connection with these foundations? So my Facebook group that I run Dineli.
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  We do foody farmers' markets every year. We didn't do one this year,
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  but in the past we do them for local organizations, and we did one
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  for Beyond the Badge last year and we were able to raise ten thousand dollars
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  for them, So we have a connection to them from that project. Bank
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  a Cop and the Silver Shield Foundation. We're both recommended to us. One
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  was recommended to us by the media and one was recommended to us from a
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  bunch of of my personal followers. Well, and maybe the organizations grow.
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  We work closely with the Blue Lives Matter. I know that they are a
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  big organization as well, and so it's just great to see all this going
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  on. And I love that Long Island supports law enforcement. Can I just
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  say it. I feel like Long Island is so strong because so many in
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  the community have family members. As you mentioned, your brother's about to be
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  in a Nasau County cop. I mean a lot of Long Island has family
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  in law enforcement. You know that cannot be denied absolutely, And we actually
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  have a couple of pizzerias where they're in law enforcement. So it's super nice
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  that you know it's their second job that they jumped on this to support you
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  know, their buddies, and you know, and you know Long Island Pizza,
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  you know strongly back to Blue. So it was nice to get one
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  hundred, sorry, two hundred and fifty six pizzerias on board, and you
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  know, we were hoping for three hundred. But you know, as a
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  team of only three people, there's only so many we can reach out to
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  ourselves. But I think it's gonna be a huge success tomorrow. Well,
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  I tell you what, you guys are reversing the horrible reaction to back the
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  Blue that some when you hashtag it, some trolls are out there. You
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  guys are saying, no, we got to really back the Blue, and
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  that that messages me needs to be said more. I feel absolutely. One
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  last thing you mentioned today was all day preparation. So tell us about preparing
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  for tomorrow. Are there special pizzas that are going to be sold in one
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  of the cops or what kind of preparation went into tomorrow. I mean,
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  it's really for every single pie sold, whether it's a regular specialty Sicilian personal,
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  you know, everyone is. It's pretty much any pie that a pizzeria
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  sells. But we did partner up with have Co Boxes, which is a
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  pizza box supplier and along with Stitch this Print that which is a like make
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  apparel and merch So they made a comeat custom boxes for the pizzeria with an
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  awesome and this print that provided T shirts for the pizzerias and we were also
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  selling merchandise. So that web store will be opened until April twenty first,
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  and ten dollars of every garment purchase will be donated back to our funds and
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  that's through Stitch this print that they're providing the donation and av Co also gave
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  I think fifty percent off of the special boxes for each of the pizzeria.
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  So they kicked in and they helped us, you know, with the marketing
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  getting this cause out there all right. Two peachers that I want to shout
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  out Carlos in Port Washington and then Nanna Bella as one of my friend's family
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  runs that and they are so excited to participate. And I love that Port
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  Washington is participating this in it as well. Yeah, we had a lot
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  of towns participate this time. The last time that we did this for the
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  Farming dew bus crash, we didn't have a lot of talents participate, so
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  we're excited to get more pizzerias on board. We almost doubled the amount that
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  we did last time, and some more representation around town to Long Island.
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  As a city kid, I wish this kind of unity was around in the
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  city. I gotta say. I just it just is night and day from
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  Long Island into New York. I'm sure you see that when you travel to
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  the city. Absolutely. I I was a Long Island or myself. I
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  hate the city, so I hate coing to the city. I hate working
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  in the city. Yeah. No, it's a different world. But if
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  anybody in New York City wants to support and help us out, you know,
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  call pizzeria any of them on the list. You know, you can
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  donate a pizzeria to a hospital, school, the local precinct, a fire
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  you know, a firehouse, you know, pretty much anywhere if you want
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  to show your support and you know, get a pizza delivered to you know,
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  it could be a family member on Long Island or you know, anywhere.
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  And we're also taking donations via themo is there a way to meet the
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  Diller family when they pick up their pizza tomorrow. Is there sort of like
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  a are they going to be showing up to one of the pizzeria's in Massapequa.
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  I don't know. It's we've kind of, you know, been giving
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  Stephanie her space. We can't imagine what she's going through and the amount of
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  overwhelming response that she's been getting. I did, you know, I've been
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  in contact with her brother and her cousin. You know, if she was
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  going to support, that's great. If she can't, we understand, we
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  can't imagine what she's going through right now. At the funeral, was just
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  that was hardful. Yeah, it's so heartbreaking. So you know, if
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  we're going to invite them to our check presentation when we do it, and
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  you know, if they can make it great, If not, we totally
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  understand. We don't want to put any pressure on her. You know,
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  we also don't really want you know, a lot of media attention on her.
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  You know, she deserves to you know, to grieve and you know,
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  get out of the media presence for a little while and you know,
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  just process what happened to her. So we're not really you know, we're
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  not really you know, reaching out to her and messaging her or anything like
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  that, or letting her grieve and if she wants to reach out to us,
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  you know, well, of course we'll talk to her. But I
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  am in touch with her brother personally and her cousin. Well we them all
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  the prayers and you know, God bless that family. That's just that's just
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  rough, and you know, in a way it's Alessa. It just it
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  reminds me that I always wonder how many times those in power have to see
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  a sea of blue morning a loss one before things change. That's kind of
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  where I feel about all of this too, is how many times. But
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  here you guys are saying, well, let's turn this into something that can
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  be almost spiritual in that we're helping the family heal through this, right absolutely,
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  and we wanted to help the you know, other families who've gone through
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  similar trategies. There was a couple of Long Island cops who passed away,
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  you know, a couple of years ago. There was one that was from
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  MAS people as well, Brian Moore. He passed away probably between like five
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  and seven years ago. He was also an MIPD cop. So you know,
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  we we wanted to donate to these organizations to know that you know,
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  for you know, everyone to know that we want to help other families who've
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  gone through these tragedies. And these three organizations work you know, very closely
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  with families of those who were killed, committed suicide or you know who I
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  mean really killed or committed suicide and you know, or those who you know
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  oversk their lives for us every day. So we're happy to partner with them.
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  Are you seeing the sentiment on the Long Island like your brother, where
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  they want to join in and join the fight if you will, as as
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  a member of the police department, because here in the city, resignations are
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  through the roof. But it sounds like, you know, your brother's saying,
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  no, I want to jump in there and I want to protect my
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  county. Is that what you're feeling out there with the law enforcement? Yeah?
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  I believe so, I mean I was. I had the privilege of
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  talking to about ten National County cops today at the press conference, and you
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  know, they were super honored to be there, super excited to be there.
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  You know, I gave them all stickers and you know, and they're
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  like, oh awesome. You know, like they're going to put it on
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  their police cars and you know, all this stuff and you know, they
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  were super excited to be a part of our press conference yesterday and I mean
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  this morning, and you know, they were just so proud and just honored
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  that people actually are uplifting them as opposed to tearing them down, because they've
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  been through a lot these past couple of years. So we're happy to lift
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  them and give them a sense of hope that you know, we support them
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  and we're behind them. And they are troopers dealing with protesters that are screaming
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  in their face. I would just unbelievable that they have to go through that.
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  Yeah, I mean, listen, we've gotten some hatred from anti cops
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  people for doing this for the cops. But listen, you know, a
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  cop or not, a thirty one year old kid died. It doesn't matter
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  if he was a cop, doesn't matter. You know, he's still a
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  human. A human being died with a one year old son who's never going
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  to know who his father is, regardless if he was a cop or not.
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  It's a horrible thing that happened. And that's why I applaud the comps
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  for always showing up for us and for what you guys are doing. Tomorrow,
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  April seventeenth, worth publicizing. I'm glad News twelve got wind of it
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  and talk about it as well. That that must have felt good to see
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  that. Yeah, I didn't really get to watch it because I was crazy
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  busy to day. I finally like had five minutes to actually sit down and
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  watch it and post it. And they did an awesome job, and you
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  know, we thank them. We thank the Farmingdale Patch for doing a story
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  on it. We think well now Restaurants for doing a story on it.
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  And I'm sure you know, after you know, after this is this is
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  done, we're going to you know a bunch of more media behind it and
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  when we release how much we raise, you know, I'm sure it's going
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  to be everywhere, and you know, we hope it makes a good impact.
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  We're not doing this or media recognition. We just want to get the
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  word out there and we want everyone supporting. And you know, I actually
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  have a couple of restaurants because I work on the liquor side of the restaurant
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  business, and they're all texting me like I'm going to be so dead because
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  of you tomorrow, and I was like, well, go buy a pizza.
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  You know, you know, we're gonna joke out of it. But
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  you know, we just want everyone to, you know, get out there.
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  You know, like I said it, the easiest fundraiser in the world
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  is to buy a pizza for your family. So you know, we're excited
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  about it, and we're hoping for a great turnout. And well, I
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  well, I have you here. While we're on this topic, I do
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  want to say a prayer for the transit cops because they continue to be out
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  there and they keep deploying them into the transitstem in New York, you know,
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  and that's the most one of the most challenging beats. I can't imagine
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  being part of that patrol, right, but there they are. Yeahday,
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  I know my fiance works for Amtrak, so the stories that he tells me
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  too is just insane. And hopefully this can bring healing to the departments,
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  to those who are in law enforcement, and to the community at large.
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  I think that's the bigger thing here too, is that you want everybody united,
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  all on this front. And that's the goal, isn't it. Absolutely
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  And that's why we have you on all right. Alyssa from l I Pizza
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  Strong, thanks for joining me for a few minutes here. I know you
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  got got back to the to making the pies for tomorrow, So enjoy the
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  rest of your night and have a great day Tomorrow. I'll be going to
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  Carlos my off most likely before work. All right, Awsome, don't forget
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  to take a picture and tag gus and thank you so much for having us
• 15:05
  and doing the story. It means so much to us. You know that
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  everyone you know really cares about this initiative, and you know how everybody's so
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  willing and eager to get back. When I saw my friend post, I
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  said, oh, that's a story I got to jump on. Because the
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  local media here in New York City may not know about it. That's where
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  I want to like say, no, we got to cover this front and
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  center, right absolutely yeah, all right, Alyssa l I Pizza Strong.
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  Follow you guys at l Pizza Strong on Instagram. Thanks for joining me,
• 15:33
  Thank you. Have a great night.