April 4, 2025

Written by Evan Bloom

Standing L to R: At the rear are Bob and Lisa Cuomo and Hanshi Rande Lawrence. Infront is Matthew Killian and Zoey Heindel.

FAYETTEVILLE, NY., April 4, 2025 –Lawrence World Class Karate (LWC Karate) together with the family of the late Christian Cuomo (Chris) have announced that Zoey Heindel from Elbridge, NY has been awarded the Christian Cuomo Scholarship Fund. 

In addition, Matthew Killian, a blind 25-year-old man with autism spectrum disorder and epilepsy, from Fayetteville, NY received the Christian Cuomo Black Belt Award in recognition of his steadfast determination and indomitable spirit in overcoming challenges. He was the first beneficiary of the Christian Cuomo Scholarship Fund in 2024.

The Christian Cuomo Scholarship Fund honors the life of Chris who tragically lost his life in a skiing accident at Bristol Mountain Resort in 2022. It is awarded every year to a deserving student at LWC Karate who serves as an inspiring example of overcoming great adversity and demonstrates dedication, commitment, and love of Karate-do.

Lisa Cuomo, Chris’s mom said, “Together with LWC Karate we are very happy to award Zoey with the scholarship and Matthew with the Black Belt award to honor the life of my son Chris. He was very passionate about karate, and he would have been very proud of both Zoey and Matthew and all their achievements. We wish both of them a successful year of karate!”

Heindel is 11 years old and has been doing karate for four years. She has a green and blue belt and excels at her Kata (choreographed set pattern of karate movements). She comes from a karate family with nine members of her family currently training at LWC Karate.

“I am very grateful for this scholarship, and I want to thank both the Cuomo family and LWC Karate for the fantastic opportunity to learn more karate,” said Zoey Heindel. “I enjoy learning new katas and I really like how karate helps me to stay fit and alert.” 

Commenting on his award, Matthew Killian “I am very proud to receive the Christian Cuomo Black Belt Award, and I am working hard towards my black belt. I want to thank the Cuomo family for their generosity and Hanshi Lawrence for being such a great teacher.”

Hanshi Rande Lawrence, the head instructor at LWC Karate said, “I am proud of both Zoey and Matt’s karate achievements. They are both very committed students, and it gives me great pleasure to see how far they have progressed. They are both very deserving of their awards. In addition, we are very grateful for the generous partnership that our karate school has with the Cuomo family.”

Killian has been a karate student for three years and became blind at the age of 19 due to a rare disease called Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy. He has been an epileptic since the age of three and was diagnosed with autism when he was 10 years old. “Matthew has been a member of our dojo for three years and during this time he has exemplified the tenets of karate-do by showing perseverance, courage and purpose in reaching his goals despite great adversity,” adds Lawrence.

At the time of his accident, Chris was a Sophomore at Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse, an honors student, and a keen sportsman. 

Lawrence World Class Karate dojo is the only karate school in Central New York specializing in traditional Japanese Shotokan and Okinawan Goju-ryu Karate Systems. A number of adults and children with an array of physical and mental challenges and disabilities are students at the school.

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Press contact: 

Evan Bloom

Fortress Strategic Communications

evan@fortresscomms.com 

(315)744-4912