Positive Stories About Positive Long Islanders Is Focus of 'Heroes on Our Island,' a New Show on Verizon FiOS1

Heroes come from all walks of life, and most times they go unnoticed as they go out of their way to help others.  They also come from all the towns and villages across Long Island.

These everyday local heroes will be featured in a new show set to premiere at 8 p.m. Tuesday (March 8) on Verizon's FiOS1 channel.  The show is hosted by a trio of FiOS1 News senior reporters and anchors, led by Long Islander Mike Stevens.  Fellow Long Island resident Rich Barrabi and reporter Jessica Fragoso also will host segments.

Titled "Heroes on Our Island," the new 30-minute show will shine the spotlight on the many Long Islanders who do special things -- whether it's a once-in-a-lifetime event, or an everyday occurrence -- to improve the lives of others in their communities.  Each episode will include features on three hero Long Islanders. 

FiOS1's "Heroes" show is an expansion of the popular two-minute feature segment "Mike's Positive People," which has been running on FiOS1 News.

In some of the upcoming show segments, the "Heroes" show will look at:

• A group of energetic and amazing women who are fighting back against breast cancer.  Reporter Jessica Fragoso visits with them in Plainview to meet the founders, survivors and models for a high-kicking karate class.
• An inspiring story of triumph over tragedy.  After suffering a crippling injury on the football field, a Garden City man redirected his life to inspire others with motivation, mentoring and messages.    Rich Barrabi will report.
• One Long Island mom whose mission has just begun.  Her son Dominic's life may have ended on a basketball court, but this Farmingdale mom works tirelessly and sometimes tearfully to raise awareness in Dominic's name.  Jessica Fragoso will follow her story.

"The great thing about Long Island is there are heroes around us all day long, and now this show is designed to celebrate them," said Michelle Webb, general manager of FiOS1.  "Our mission with this show is to give our viewers on Long Island something to smile about.  These people go out of their way every day to help out their neighbors in their communities.  We will go out of our way to find them and tell their uplifting stories."

"Heroes" is the second new Long Island feature to launch within the past week on FiOS1.  Last week, FiOS1 debuted "Restaurant Hunter," which focuses exclusively on the restaurant and food scene on Long Island, and which offers Perks to those featured restaurants through MyVerizon.com.  "Restaurant Hunter" airs each Thursday night at 8 p.m. on Verizon FiOS1.

Both "Heroes on Our Island" and "Restaurant Hunter" will be rebroadcast several times throughout the week.  Long Islanders can check the FiOS1 Long Island website for the programming schedule.  FiOS1 Long Island is available on Channel 1 only for Verizon FiOS customers on Long Island.

"'Heroes' is one more way that Verizon FiOS connects with Long Islanders," said Webb.  "Everyone on the Island knows the angels who walk among us.  We invite all Long Islanders to help us find and feature these great people by visiting our website - www.FiOS1NewsLI.com -- and telling us about a hero they know, whether a family member, co-worker or next-door neighbor."

Tune in to a new episode of "Heroes on Our Island" every Tuesday at 8 p.m., only on Channel 1, only on Verizon FiOS1 Long Island.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, NASDAQ:VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers.  Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, serving 94.1 million customers nationwide.  Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers innovative, seamless business solutions to customers around the world.  A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of more than 194,000 and last year generated consolidated revenues of $106.6 billion.  For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

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