Great Neck residents raise funds for widow, child

It was more than just cardio exercise and pumping iron Saturday at the Equinox gym in Great Neck. There was charity, too -- a benefit held for the family of a trainer whose life was cut short by Lou Gehrig's disease.

The staff at the gym held a fundraiser in honor of their colleague, Ken Arredondo, who was 34 when he died May 13, said his wife, Michelle.

Arredondo worked as a personal trainer at the gym and was beloved by the gym's members.

"You don't get this very often," Michelle Arredondo of Bayside, Queens, said Saturday about the support the gym employees were providing her and the couple's son, Liam, who's 10 months old. "It's a blessing."

Brian Buccino, general manager of the gym, said the daylong fundraiser offered personal training sessions for a flat fee of $100 and accepted donations for special exercise classes, spa treatments and massage therapy. There was also a silent auction and raffle, he said.

"A lot of our members are merchants," Buccino said. "They contributed."

Buccino estimated that the gym has raised about $25,000 since Arredondo died. The money will go to pay for funeral costs and living expenses for Michelle and Liam.

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It was four years ago when Arredondo first experienced a weakness in his right shoulder. It took a year and a half before the feeling got worse, and then spread to his left shoulder, abdomen and eventually his left leg.

Arredondo began losing muscle mass at an accelerated pace, ultimately dying from respiratory failure, his wife said.