"It was back in March and our grandma had just passed away from cancer," Jillian said. "We saw a post on Facebook about Matteo and how he was battling brain cancer and his family had just gotten COVID. We felt so bad and wanted to help out. We reached out and started thinking of what ways we could help."
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This was in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, as stay-at-home orders were being enforced. For many during quarantine, socially distant outdoor activities like taking walks became daily habits. The Unkenholz sisters figured a remote, walking fundraiser would be the safest and most practical option to raise money for Matteo's brave fight.
With the help of Smithtown's Children's Foundation, the Unkenholz sisters organized "Move 4 Matteo" and created special shirts with a Superman-inspired logo to go along with Matteo's family nickname 'Mighty' Matteo.' The walk took place in June and raised about $10,000.
"We saw a ton of people outside walking since there wasn't much else to do," Jillian said. "We figured if people were doing that anyways we could encourage them to donate some money [for Matteo] and post a picture of them walking to help spread the word about the fundraiser. We ended up selling t-shirts and delivered them to everybody."
This past holiday season, Matteo and his mom paid it forward and ran a toy drive for sick children at Cohen Children's Medical Center this Christmas. In total, they were able to collect a minivan full of toys to be delivered.
