A local entrepreneur will exchange blows to donate bucks for charity.
Steven East, president and CEO of Caring People Home Healthcare Agency, which has a branch in Forest Hills, is training to compete in the Long Island Fight for Charity boxing event on November 25 at the Hilton Long Island hotel.
The 10th annual event is a way for local business professionals to network and fundraise for charities through sacrificing their bodies in fun, competitive matches.
“It’s pretty easy to write a check, it’s a little more challenging to actually do something,” East said.
“We’re all doing it because we want to show that we believe in this cause more than just raising some money.”
There will be 11 matches of three, one- minute rounds for each fight between the business men and women during the event. East will be fighting against Scott Zuckerman, CEO of consulting firm Wexford Financial Strategies.
Although East has no prior boxing experience, for about a year he has been training at Mendez Boxing Gym in Manhattan.
He travels to the gym around 6 a.m. on most days to train. He runs about four miles daily, does condition training and practices boxing with his trainer, Aldo Uribe. Together they practice techniques and spar for about two hours a day.
Uribe said when East first came to the gym, the CEO was about 15 pounds overweight and a “little pudgy,” but now he only has about four percent body fat and is a more refined boxer.
“Little by little it started clicking and before we knew it he was able to really control some of the guys he was sparring, whereas before he was having trouble with them,” Uribe said.
Proceeds from the boxing event will be donated to The Long Island Community Chest, The Genesis School and the National Foundation for Human Potential. Long Island Fight for Charity had donated $700,000 to Long Island charities since 2003.
East knows a lot about helping others. His company, Caring People, has been providing home aides to assist people with daily living activities since East’s grandmother founded the company in Flushing in 1987.
But even though the boxing event is for a good cause, East doesn’t plan on pulling any punches against Zuckerman.
“Everyone is saying ‘oh it’s just for charity,’” East said. “But I guarantee when each person steps into that ring it’s not about charity for those three rounds, it’s about winning and I’m not going into this not to win.”
For more information or to purchase tickets for the event visit www.lifightforcharity.org.
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