"We were dealing with that and being in isolation and it hit our family very hard," said Cindy Minniti, Anthony's daughter-in-law and mother to Michael and Madison. "Trying to explain first to my son, who was just really devastated and nine at the time, that when something bad happens we can try to turn it into something good and that's what pop-pop would want us to do."
Michael wanted to start a fundraiser in his grandfather's memory, and to support both the front line workers fighting the pandemic, as well as local food banks - and by extension the homeless and hungry. He wanted to incorporate basketball somehow and the family settled on a virtual free throw contest, streamed over Instagram Live, since he'd already been doing virtual hoop sessions and gathering at a court was out of the question.
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They called it Hoops to Help. Michael, Madison and their father would all stream themselves trying to hit as many free throws as possible in a two-minute time frame, while broadcasting out on Instagram. Whoever wanted to participate could shoot on their own hoops, or just make a donation based on how many shots they hit.
With the help of Madison, who set up the social media aspects, the Minniti's put the word out to friends, family and the kid's schools. Cindy wanted to temper expectations, but assure her kids that no matter how much money came in, or how many people participated, she was proud of them for honoring their grandfather and doing a good deed during a tough time.
"I told my son, we might raise $100, we might raise $1000 and that would be amazing," Minniti said.
They wound up raising over $45,000, with the proceeds going to City Harvest and First Responders Children's Foundation.
"We had no idea on the day we did the event what kind of turnout we would have," Minniti said. "We knew how many children were participating, but we didn't know how much money we would raise and it kept coming in and coming in and way exceeded our expectations."
Minniti said they had about 100 kids participate in the free throw contest, some contributing flat donations, while others raised money for each basket made. They were moved by the Merrick community supporting their cause ,but what really blew the family away was how much further their initiative travelled. They had an NBA player, through a friend of a friend, donate a signed ball to one of the top fundraisers, and had letters and donations coming in from as far as California.
"We started getting donations from people who had heard about it or seen it from our social media," Minniti said. "We started getting letters and notes from people as far as California who had known my father-in-law from years ago and saw this from a friend of a friend and wanted to donate $25. That was incredible."
As successful as the fundraiser was, it doesn't replace what the family lost in March. It still hurts, but Minniti is proud of her children for being resilient in the face of a family tragedy and for channeling their grief into helping others.
"It was just incredible, the heart from both of my kids that went into this," she said. "As a parent, finding a way to make something really positive out of something that's so tragic and so sad, that's all you want to teach children."
