A1 Roofing is a company that has deep roots in the Long Island community, having built a stellar reputation for keeping the roofs of homes and businesses in the region drip-free and safe as can be for over 40 years and counting.

A1 is headquartered in Port Jefferson Station and family-run for two generations, with the company handling both residential and commercial roofing; on the commercial side they specialize in maintenance and repairs, doing a lot of work with banks, hospitals, and major shopping malls. They can handle any job – no matter how big or small – ranging from leak repair to an entire roof renovation and full new roof systems. 

However, A1 isn't the type of business to sit on its laurels and merely enjoy the fruits of its success; indeed, according to Vincent Malizia – co-owner, along with his brother John – it is vitally important to give back to the community that they have been serving all of these years, and to that end, he and his brother have created the A1 Cares Foundation, a charitable organization whose mission is to raise money to support families in need.

The A1 Cares Foundation is a new endeavor, having just launched earlier this year. However, it is merely an extension of the charitable work that Vincent’s company has been engaging in for many years now.

“We've been doing a lot of charitable work, giving back to other organizations, and creating an actual foundation to that end has always been on our radar. When the time allowed, it was something I finally wanted to launch,” he said. “The goal is to continue supporting other charitable organizations, but we wanted to establish our own as well so we could determine which charities we want to give to, what events we want to have.”

Initially, the plan for the A1 Cares Foundation is to hold two fundraising events annually, with the proceeds generated by each one earmarked for supporting specific charities. However, priority will be given to groups that A1 already has tight ties to, serving causes such as St. Jude's Children's Hospital, autism, and breast cancer awareness.

“We have some family members who are autistic, and St. Jude's is a fantastic charity. We recently toured their hospital in Memphis, and that facility is amazing,” Vincent said. “In addition, we've had many family and friends throughout the years suffer from breast cancer, including my friend's wife who was recently diagnosed at just 36 years old.”

“We already have a huge network established through our years of charity work, and we just wanted to help as many people as we can,” Vincent continued. “It's great that we have a successful roofing business and we're making a lot of money, but it comes down to what can we do to help people? This is our way of helping people in need and giving back.”

On an average year – spread out amongst all the different charities that they support – A1 typically doles out over $100,000 in contributions, Vincent noted.

“And that money doesn't just go out to the organizations that we normally work with. We often get approached by other groups asking us to sponsor them as well,” he said. “I'm not sure how much A1 Cares is going to be able to raise this year, as the goal in 2024 was that just to get the foundation up and running. The paperwork was just recently finalized and we're now officially a 501c not-for-profit, and the plan is to do a kickoff party in the fall. But as time goes by, we want to make sure that we're raising more and more each and every year.”

The kickoff event in question is potentially slated to be held at either Oheka Castle in Huntington or Old Westbury Gardens, and will likely take the form of a cocktail party; once the details are ironed out, a public announcement will be made of the location, date, and time.

However, one thing Vincent is sure about when it comes to A1 Cares’ fundraising events is that they will strive to be as unique as possible when compared to similar endeavors put on by other organizations.

“You really want to stand out,” he said. “There are so many events put on by so many different charities, and a lot of them are just the same thing. We're going to try to do things just a little bit differently.”

Aiding those in need by engaging in charity work has always been a priority to Vincent and his brother’s company, and he says he feels a great swell of pride knowing that his hard work and success can be passed on to those in need; the formation of the A1 Cares Foundation will only help to spread the net even wider in that regard.

“We feel like we're so blessed to have what we have...we've worked for what we have and we've built this company, but we still feel that there's so much hardship in the world and so many negative things,” he said. “We want to be the light in the world. We want to be the people to help you have a better day, not a worse day. So, a lot of the stuff we do, we just want to make people's days better, and we're in a position to do that.”

“We have a really big network with some really big clients, and we have a huge staff, so we can really make a difference,” Vincent concluded. “We want to make a difference, and if somebody is going through a difficult time – like, the day they find out they have breast cancer or that their child is autistic – we want to be there to help those people, whether it's raising funds or awareness or getting more people involved in finding a cure. That's really our goal.”

To find out more about A1 Roofing, please call 631-928-1826 or visit their website at https://a1roofingny.com. To find out more about the A1 Cares Foundation, please visit https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/giving-back-vincent-malizia-ixyue.