Local Bands Battle to Benefit Burn Victim

Nearly 100 people braved the blazing heat to attend a Battle of the Bands competition in  to benefit a local Riverhead boy who was badly burned in an exploding gel candle accident.

The competition was organized by the Riverhead Key Club, a high school service group, and raised about $800 to help offset Michael Hubbard's medical bills. 

Hubbard has remained in a coma since May 28 when a gel candle exploded, leaving the boy with third-degree burns on his face, chest, and arms.

Six different bands from across Long Island played at the event, with Coastline, a band of graduates, taking home the top prize.

"We just figured it'd be for a good cause," said Coastline lead guitarist Nick DiSalvo.

Amanda Commins, a senior at Riverhead High School and member of the Key Club, said the group was already planning a Battle of the Bands to benefit Doctors Without Borders, but she suggested they change the event to help Hubbard after he was injured.

"We were trying to do something to give more back to the community," Commins said.

Hubbard's mother, former Riverhead GOP Chairman Nancy Reyer, has remained by his side since the accident, but other members of the boy's family attended the concert to show their appreciation. 

"It's overwhelming," said Hubbard's aunt Fran Reyer-Johnson, who sat with other members of Hubbard's family at the back of the field during the show. "I've never seen Riverhead come together like this for anybody."

Reyer-Johnson said Hubbard is doing better, and has been taken off the medication and medical equipment he was placed on, but he's "not out of the woods yet."

Family members said those looking to give to the cause can donate to the Michael Hubbard Fund at Suffolk Federal Credit Union. 

"My heart goes out to one and all for what you have done and continue to do," Michael's mother Nancy said in a post on an online journal dedicated to Hubbard's recovery earlier on Saturday.