2019 Launch

dezystrong officially launches

What was billed as "the" event of the summer, has certainly lived up to the hype (in our own humble opinion). On Monday August 5, 2019, the DezyStrong Foundation was officially launched during the evening reception at the inaugural Dezy Classic golf outing at Mill Pond Golf Course in Medford, NY.

The Day featured two rounds of golf as a morning round was added to accommodate the tremendous response to this event. Weather conditions for golf were just perfect all day, which lead in to a rousing evening reception.

At the reception our founder, Matthew "Dezy" DiStefano announced official launch of the DezyStrong Foundation with an extremely personal, rousing, and inspirational speech that brought the standing-room-only crowd to its feet on a few occasions. In addition to the official foundation announcement, the DezyStrong Foundation also presented its first three honorees; Kaelyn McCandless, Jeff Killian, and Kayla Spero.

Rounding out the evening was a scholarship award that was given as a joint venture with Sal Ferro of The Ferro Foundation. Dominic Pikura and Ben Naouai were the respective recipients of the scholarship award.

See below for some of the highlights of our evening reception - and be sure to keep a lookout for more information on the 2020 Dezy Classic!

Dezy's introduction

The moment everyone was waiting for - words from DezyStrong founder, Matthew "Dezy" DiStefano. Dezy gave an inspiring speech that still has people buzzing. He reminds us that we don't "have to" do anything, but rather we "get to" do things. To view his speech see the video above. Below are pictures from his introduction as well as Dezy's introductory video.

Honoree: kaelyn mccandless

The first-ever honoree of the DezyStrong Foundation is the rock-star herself, Kaelyn McCandless. At only 10-years-old, Kaelyn has been battling cancer for nearly 3 years. Her boundless energy and glowing spirit is infectious. Keep on Rockin' Kaelyn!

honoree: jeff killian

The second honoree of the night was Dezy's late childhood friend, Jeff Killian, who lost his battle with cancer 19 years ago. Jeff's parents were on hand for the occasion as the DezyStrong Foundation made a donation to the Jeffery P. Killian Memorial Scholarship at Fairfield University.

honoree: Kayla Spero

The third honoree of the evening reception was Kayla Spero. Kayla is a Sachem teenager who loved basketball and track. She lost her battle with cancer this past July. Her family was on hand to join the DezyStrong Foundation in honoring her and her fight. The DezyStrong Foundation will continue #fightingwithkayla.

Dezystrong/ferro foundation scholarships