Eugene Alletto, the founder and CEO of BEDGEAR, was named a 2025 honoree at the American Cancer Society’s Hope Lodge Bash Gala, as his company helped raise nearly $500,000 for the organization.
“It was without question one of the highlights in my career to be in a room of people who are filled with giving and caring,” he said about the gala.
The American Cancer Society’s premier fundraising event in New York City raised funds for the Hope Lodge Jerome L. Greene Family Center’s annual operating costs.
The 2025 Hope Lodge Bash Gala took place on May 15 and featured a cocktail reception, seated dinner, a program with a live and silent auction and a mission moment to directly support the Hope Lodge NYC.
“Eugene’s innovative spirit at BEDGEAR is matched by his heartfelt dedication to giving back,” Chloe Lipman, the vice president of development at American Cancer Society, said. “His support for the American Cancer Society and Hope Lodge exemplifies true leadership that inspires hope and comfort.”
BEDGEAR is a Farmingdale-based company founded in 2009. It designs bedding products tailored to unique body types, sleep positions, and temperature preferences through personalized, sustainable, and high-tech innovation and is in thousands of retail stores.
Every October, the company donates 5% of all pillow sales from its website to the American Cancer Society’s Breast Cancer Research Fund and one seatbelt pillow to the ACS for every pillow fitting completed in retail stores.
The seatbelt pillow was designed to protect sensitive areas during treatment. In addition to donating these pillows to the American Cancer Society, BEDGEAR donates 5% of each seatbelt pillow sold online year-round.
Alletto said the idea for the seatbelt pillow came as a way to try to provide comfort to somebody within the company who was struggling with breast cancer. He said once they were tested and proven, BEDGEAR donated thousands of them.
Alletto also mentioned a story of a woman who was in a car accident, and he said that the positioning of the pillow saved her from injury.
“Our partnership with the American Cancer Society felt like a natural fit from the start,” he said.
Alletto, originally from Hempstead, said that growing up in that area helped shape him into somebody who enjoys giving back to the community.
“Unbeknownst to me, growing up in a very ethnic environment, and coming from two parents that always taught me to give back and give more than you take, it really must have made an impact on me,” he said.
Alletto said BEDGEAR has dozens of different cultures working within the company.
Alletto also founded the BEDGEAR Foundation in 2017 to create change through philanthropy. The foundation has touched many people around the world, supporting organizations that provide comfort to those in need, including foster children, individuals facing homelessness and those affected by natural disasters.
“Giving back isn’t a side project,” he said. “It’s an important part of what it means to support the communities in which you serve. If someone has to ask you to get involved, it’s already too late. Every business and every person should be committed to giving more than they receive.”
