Like most business owners, Gina and Vinny Centauro had to figure out a new normal during the pandemic. Their contracting business and charity called Rescuing Families that helps build homes for families in need had to stop – but they figured out another way to help.

With much access to PPE gear, they donated more than 300 N95 masks to health care workers. They then asked other contractors and businesses owners to do the same.

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In a matter of days, Gina and Vinny were getting PPE from all over the country to give to people who needed it on Long Island – such as Christine Bavaro, whose mother lives in the Mill River Gardens Senior Center in Oceanside.

Bavaro told News 12 that residents were reusing their PPE and were in need of more. After one call to Rescuing Families, every senior at the center had new masks.

“Some of them were crying, because they were prisoners in their apartment,” says Bavaro. “They couldn’t go to stores, they couldn’t socialize outside.”

Karen Geller-Hittleman, who runs the Cerebral Palsy Association of Nassau County, says their facility in Bayville was also in need of PPE. Gina and Vinny got them the protection they needed, as well as games, puzzles and crafts to help pass the time for residents stuck inside.

“I was raised that way,” says Gina Centauro. “We were always taught there’s always something you can do even if you don’t have a lot of money, there’s always something you can do to help somebody.”

Rescuing Families says it hopes to be back building homes for those in need in the next couple of weeks.