Huntington Helpers: Storyteller Finds a Way to Give

When Stephen Medici retired as CEO of Black Mountain Group of companies in 2005, he was looking forward to spending some of his new-found free time as a volunteer to support his favorite charities.

 “The idea came to me one day while sitting on the beach.” he recalls. “I was trying to figure out what to do next.  I was too young for retirement but didn’t want to jump back into a traditional executive role.  I wanted to do something that would make a difference.  But I didn’t know how.” 

He started out by trying to volunteer at local organizations that he thought could use his help, but he found out that it wasn’t as easy to volunteer his time as he thought it would be. He filled out applications at several places, including a veterans hospital, a food bank, and even his local church, but in many cases, he just never heard back from them.

“Many organizations can’t figure out how to use a retired CEO," the Huntington resident said. “They assume you’ll want to run the place. They assume you wouldn’t be happy cutting the grass, loading boxes or helping patients.”

But, instead of giving up on the idea of helping others, he decided to find his own way. In 2007 he combined his gift for storytelling with his love of writing to publish his first book and he donated all of the proceeds from its sale to Long Island Cares - The Harry Chapin Food Bank.

Writing was something that he had always done as a hobby. Each one of his five children has been gifted with the journals that he started when they were born and that he wrote in every year as they were growing up.  Writing a book was something he had thought about doing, and he wasn’t planning to do it to make money. When his wife suggested the donation to charity, he thought it was a wonderful idea.

His novel, “Adverse Selection” was a fictional account of a real murder that occurred on Long Island in 1976. The initial printing of 500 copies was sold out, raising several thousand dollars for the food bank.

Now Medici has finished his second book, and this time St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital will benefit from its sale. “A Walk Around Cold Spring Pond” is a love story set in Southampton. He is hoping that this one will be even more successful, and has once again pledged 100% of the proceeds.

The book came out in November, and is available at and also on Amazon.com. Because he is self published, he is starting out only with 500 copies but he hopes to find a publisher to pick it up so that he can increase his donation to the hospital.

“It’s difficult when you’re a complete unknown,” said the 48-year-old exec-turned- novelist who is also an adjunct professor at Molloy College where he teaches several undergraduate business classes.  “At first no one wants to take a chance on an unknown author but when they hear the money goes to St Jude’s, people are happy to help.  And I think they’ll enjoy the book.”

Huntington Patch wants to highlight the good works of volunteers who make life just a bit easier for others, ordinary people doing extraordinary things.  If you want to recommend someone, please e-mail us. Thank you.