Local 'Ladies' and Gents Make Strides For Breast Cancer [Video and Photos]

Clad in pink, 90 members of Lady of America gym in West Hempstead made a pretty powerful team Sunday at the American Cancer Society's annual Making Stride Against Breast Cancer Walk at Jones Beach.

Together they collected $3,735, adding to the nearly $3 million the event raised this year, and joined thousands of other women, men and children who completed the five-mile trek. The crowd included numerous breast cancer survivors as well as relatives and friends honoring the memory of women lost to the disease.

"We stood united for a great cause," said Vita Zorbo, owner of Lady of America gym. Her team walked in honor of Maria Diaz, a West Hempstead woman who is battling the disease.

Zorbo was happy to have some of her fellow West Hempstead Chamber of Commerce members support their efforts. Stop and Shop manager Mike Krolack donated delicious muffins, pumpkin bread and fruit to the participants and George DiGiovanni, of Printed 2 A Tee, gave the team a great deal on the T-shirts they wore.

Patch also spotted Malvernite Bill Holzapfel, a volunteer with the American Cancer Society, at the walk, sporting a hot pink mustache. (Check out his video interview with our reporter above.)

"He's one of our most outstanding volunteers," Paul Gruol, director of Special Events for the American Cancer Society, recently said of Holzapfel, who helped organize Malverne's first Relay for Life event last spring. "We're lucky to have someone with so much passion."