NoFoDoCo raises funds for fallen NYPD detective Jonathan Diller

The North Fork community has mobilized to help a family in need.

When Massapequa native and New York Police Department Detective Jonathan Diller was killed last week during a traffic stop in Far Rockaway, it became national news, drawing figures like former president Donald Trump, Gov. Kathy Hochul to a wake in his memory and hundreds of others to a candlelight vigil last week in Massapequa Park. Mr. Diller, 31, was survived by his wife, Stephanie Diller, and their child who is one year old.

Mattituck’s own North Fork Doughnut Company, having opened their third storefront in Massapequa in October of 2023, is one of two businesses on the North Fork stepping up to help the Diller family.

“North Fork Doughnut Company, me, my wife, and our family — we’re big supporters of police officers, firefighters, military,” NoFoDoCo co-owner Jimmy Lyons said. “Especially being in Massapequa, it kind of shed a light onto that a little bit brighter. I grew up out there so I know there’s a lot of police officers, a lot of firefighters, it’s a big part of the community out there. So we just wanted to think of a way that we can give back as a brand, as a business that exists in that community, for all the support that they’ve given us since we opened over there.”

NoFoDoCo is selling blue line doughnuts out of all three of their locations — Mattituck, Bay Shore and Massapequa — for the next two weeks. The doughnuts cost $5 and $2.50 of the profits from the sale of each doughnut will be given directly to the Diller family for the next two weeks. The blue line doughnuts will then continue to be sold at the Massapequa store indefinitely and proceeds will be donated to a charity chosen by NoFoDoCo, Mr. Lyons said.

As of April 1, they had raised $3,075 after having sold the doughnuts since Thursday March 28, according to Mr. Lyons.

Other organizations that have helped the Diller family include Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which paid the family’s mortgage and has been helping provide “mortgage free homes to Gold Star and fallen first-responder families with young children and by building specially adapted smart homes for catastrophically injured veterans and first responders,” according to the group’s website. Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy raised over $1.5 million for the Diller family.

The community support has been overwhelming, Mr. Lyons said.

“I was blown away by the support out east. I mean, people were coming in and buying everything on the shelves even, all the way out on the North Fork,” he said. “I think most small businesses will support those sorts of things because community for most small businesses is just the biggest thing. Without community, you don’t exist, so when something like this happens, to see the people band together …. it’s hard not to get on board and be a part of it and want to give back.”

Wendy’s Deli is also doing their part and collecting donations of diapers for the Diller family’s 14-month-old, as well as wipes, baby food and utensils, toys, and gift cards to local restaurants, Uber Eats/Door Dash, Amazon, Target and grocery stores. Donations will be picked up by a volunteer and collected by Friday, April 5.