"As Seen in Our Place Newspaper: Local Companies Help to Avert Disaster"

All too often these days you read stories about what is not right with the world, whether it be the economy, someone doing something illegal or immoral or Wall Street woes.

This is not one of those stories. My name is Marilyn Zimmardi and I own MAZ Optical, a full service optometric company with offices in Holbrook and East Patchogue.

On September 10, 2009 I had the misfortune of being notified by one of my employees ten minutes before my store was to open, that over the previous night there had been a very serious flood in my East Patchogue office. Several inches of water filled my 1900 square foot office.
“It’s bad, Marilyn. Very bad.” Said Ling Zhang, my biller. Not quite sure of what to do, I called my landlord, Charles Serota of Serota Properties which proved unproductive to say the least.

This is where the story begins.

I was sure that Rick Ammirati, president of my Holbrook Chamber of Commerce would have some answers for me. So I went into Friendly Drugs and brought Rick up to speed on the events of the last ten minutes. Immediately, he had the numbers for Curley Plumbing in Bohemia as well as Qualified Restoration in Holbrook. I placed my calls at 10am. In less than half an hour BOTH companies were there at the scene and completely equipped with the necessary machinery and instruments to make things happen. Our doctor was due to see patients at 12 noon and here they all were with blowers and dehumidifiers and cameras and plumbing supplies, working diligently at 10:30am. As a direct result of the quick actions and expertise of both Curley Plumbing and Qualified Restoration, only three patients had to be rescheduled!! The potentially catastrophic damages were completely mitigated. By 2pm it was business as usual…and the blowers and dehumidifiers became a great conversation piece to the patients that visited throughout the day. It should also be said that my staff was absolutely AMAZING in their dedication to MAZ and our patient community. As for Qualified Restoration,

you can find the proprietor, Ken San Pedro as well as Gary Curley of Curley Plumbing at
www.Holbrookchamber.com. If you are a Holbrook resident and have never visited that site, I invite you to witness firsthand the commitment to community that is our Holbrook Chamber of Commerce. By writing this story I hope not only to acknowledge the heroes, but also to renew faith where there was once resignation and cynicism. Thank you. Thank you all.