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The local charity chosen by the Parade Committee this year is the Greater New York Chapter of the Families of Spinal
Muscular Atrophy (www.fsma.org), which is based in Rockville Centre. Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is a motor
neuron disease that affects the voluntary muscles that are used for activities such as crawling, walking, head and
neck control, and swallowing. A small group of parents started Families of SMA in 1984 to raise funds for SMA
research to cure the disease and to support all affected families. Back then, very little was known about the
disease, there was no family support services and thus very little hope. Today, Families of SMA have 26 chapters
nationwide with over 65,000 members and supporters, and have raised and funded over $50 million for SMA research.
This funding has led to successful results and progress from basic research to drug discovery programs to clinical
trials that now provide real hope for families and patients. The President of the Greater New York Chapter, Debbie
Cuevas, a Rockville Centre resident, coordinates many fundraising, awareness and support functions for over 500
families within the Long Island / NYC area.
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The national charity chosen by the Parade Committee is the Mollie Biggane Melanoma Foundation,
also called Mollie’s Fund (www.molliesfund.org). Mollie’s Fund was established in Mollie’s memory
by her parents after her tragic death at the age of 20 from melanoma. The Fund’s mission is to
increase awareness for melanoma prevention, provide information and services on skin cancer
detection, and support melanoma patients through education of the latest treatments. The
foundation has created and produced an educational DVD, “The Dark Side of the Sun”. Over 150,000
have been distributed at no charge to health teachers throughout the United States and Canada.
Mollie’s Fund has also created “Have You Checked Your Skin Lately?” an English and Spanish
wallet-sized brochure that illustrates evolving moles and demonstrates the process of a self-check.
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The Irish charity selected by the Parade Committee is the Long Island Gaelic Athletic Club, Inc.
(www.thelongislandgaels.com). The purpose of the Long Island Gaelic Athletic Club also known as
the Gaels, is to Promote Gaelic Football and Culture on Long Island from underage boys and girls
through senior as part of the New York Gaelic Athletic Minor and Senior Boards. Gaelic football,
which is one of the oldest sports in the world, resembles a combination of soccer and American
football and is a fast-paced and entertaining game to watch. It is played on a field slightly
larger than an American football field with fifteen players on each team. The Gaels presently
have five underage programs: under 8, under 10, under 12, under 14, and under 16. They draw
players from all over Long Island with 15 players being from Rockville Centre, and compete
against 12 other clubs from around the tri-state area. Underage training and home games are
presently being played at Molloy College, Rockville Centre in conjunction with their Irish
Studies Program. They also have a Senior Gaelic Football team and a soccer team.
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The local charity chosen by the Parade Committee this year is The De La Salle School of
Freeport, which was established in 2002 with eleven 5th grade students and now currently
enrolls more than 60 students in grades 5 through 8. More than 77% of De La Salle’s
students qualify for free or reduced price federal lunch, and the school provides a
“Breakfast Club” that serves milk and cereal for all students every morning and offers its
students “Extended Day’ study time and social activities three (3) afternoons a week. The
school’s teachings are rooted in more than 325 years of De La Salle Christian Brothers
tradition, and it maintains a curriculum which meets and surpasses the guidelines
established by the Board of Regents of the State of New York.
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The national charity chosen by the Parade Committee is Maureen’s Hope Foundation, Inc.,
which was founded five (5) years ago by Susan Bertrand after watching her younger sister,
Maureen, endure a courageous and difficult two (2) year battle with cancer. Ms. Bertrand
learned that there are many needs that a patient has when faced with a life altering disease
that cannot be met by the medical community, and the mission of Maureen’s Hope is to try to
fill that gap and fulfill some of those needs. In its five (5) year history, Maureen’s Hope
has provided practical support and assistance to over 400 people facing the challenges of a
cancer diagnosis or other life altering disease, including providing patients with a
cleaning service for their home; meals for the family; wigs if they have lost their hair;
help with travel expenses and fundraisers; and personalized gift baskets of hope filled with
items that offer comfort and inspiration.
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Molloy College Irish Studies Institute
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The Irish charity selected by the Parade Committee is the newly-established Irish Studies
Institute at Molloy College, a long-time supporter of the Parade. Molloy plans to use the
funds received from the Parade for one of two distinct projects. The first proposed project
is the establishment of the oral history archives which will become part of the permanent
collection of the Irish Studies Institute. This oral history project will preserve the
story of Irish Americans in this region. The second proposed project will be the
establishment of an endowed scholarship fund for Irish Studies that will exist in perpetuity
and be named “The RVC St. Patrick’s Parade Scholarship Fund at Molloy College”. The
proceeds the Parade committee donates will benefit those students interested in pursuing a
certificate in Irish Studies, would be put in a restricted account and scholarships would be
awarded on the interest collected on that endowment. Both of these projects provide for a
lasting legacy to the generosity of the Parade.
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Long Island Sled Hockey, Inc.
for the
handicapped athlete
The 2008 local charity is the Long Island Sled Hockey, Inc. ~ for the handicapped athlete, based in
Lynbrook. Sled hockey is played mainly by people with various lower extremity disabilities, such as
amputations, spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy, post polio and the like. The Lynbrook charity is the
only program of its kind in the United States as it joins both physically and mentally challenged athletes
on the ice. The club is in its 12th year, and all monies raised during the year go directly to their
athletes, as there are no administrative fees or coaches salaries paid. This amazing group of young boys
and girls has captured the hearts of everyone with whom they have come in contact, and we are delighted to
support them.
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Multiple Myeloma Research
Foundation
The 2008 national charity chosen by the Parade Committee is The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, which
was founded in 1998 by twin sisters Karen Andrews and Kathy Giusti following Kathy’s diagnosis with the
disease. Multiple Myeloma is a cancer of the plasma cell that is an incurable but treatable disease. At
present there are more than 50,000 people in the United States living with the disease. The Multiple
Myeloma Research foundation is the world’s number one private funder of research into the disease, having
raised more than $85 million to fund 70 laboratories worldwide. This effort has been producing results, as
there are several promising new therapies that are helping patients live longer, healthier lives.
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Ards Friary Retreat and Conference Centre
Donegal Ireland
The 2008 Irish charity selected by the Parade Committee is the Ards Friary and Retreat Centre, a historic
1708 building located on the beautifully scenic Ards peninsula in County Donegal, Ireland. It is estimated
that 80% of all Irish Capuchins, at home and abroad, studied at Ards. Today, having been taken over from the
Capuchins by the Roman Catholic diocese of Raphoe, the Ards Friary is used for a whole host of worthy
causes, from ecumenical exchanges and youth retreats to marriage preparation and adult education. In recent
years Ards Friary has also erected many practical exhibits on promoting a cleaner environment
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Camp Anchor Parents Foundation
Camp ANCHOR is a 6 week summer day camp that provides meaningful social and recreational activities for approximately
600 physically challenged citizens ages 5 and above who are residents of the Town of Hempstead
The camp is a comprehensive recreational program that includes music, dance, arts and crafts, ceramics,
swimming, bowling, physical education, competitive sports, court and board games, home economics, fitness,
camper and professional shows, a field day, a swim festival, and a spectacular carnival. It is staffed by
knowledgeable professionals and numerous volunteers, who work with participants to help them develop skills,
improve self concepts and integrate into community life.
Camp Anchor is part of the Town of Hempstead's year-round ANCHOR (Answering the Needs of Citizens with Handicaps
through Organized Recreation) program, which offers a range of after-school activities and an all-day Saturday
recreation program dedicated to meeting the special needs of mentally and developmentally disabled and physically
challenged children and adults residing in the Town of Hempstead. Founded by the Hempstead Town Board in 1968 at the
request of a group of parents of physically challenged children, ANCHOR has grown from an after-school program serving
50 children to a year-round program with over one thousand children and adult participants.
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St. Baldrick's
St Baldrick's aptly describes itself as "a whimsical twist on St. Patrick's Day," in which volunteers agree to shave
their heads bald in order to raise funds to help combat childhood cancer.
It was begun in 1999 by a group of New York City business executives of Irish descent who decided to transform their
traditional St. Patrick's Day celebration into an effort to assist young children diagnosed with cancer. Because cancer
treatment for these children often causes their hair to fall out, the group recruited volunteers to have their heads
shaved in public in return for pledges of support What began as a single New York City event with a goal of raising "$17,000 on the 17th"
has grown in five years to hundreds of events around the globe that have raised nearly $7 million,.
The chief beneficiary of St. Baldrick's is CureSeareh National Childhood Cancer Foundation, which supports CureSearch
Children's Oncology Group, the world's foremost childhood cancer research organization.
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Playing for Peace
"Children who play together can learn to live together."
That is the philosophy behind PeacePlayers International, a program founded in 2001 as Playing for Peace that uses
basketball and life skills training to bring together young people of diverse religious, racial and cultural backgrounds
in some of the world's most divided regions.
Over the past five years, Playing for Peace has touched more than 45,000 young people in these regions, bringing together
Catholic and Protestant children in Northern Ireland; Israeli and Palestinian teen-agers in the Middle East; children of
varied racial backgrounds in South Africa; Turkish and Greek youth in Cyprus; and helping them develop leadership skills and learn to live together as friends and neighbors.
PeacePlayers International has four main objectives: to bridge social divides, develop future leaders, educate children to
lead healthy, constructive lives, and build community involvement The program targets children ages 10 - 14, when they are
old enough to pick up the basics of the sport of basketball, but young enough where prejudices have not yet been cemented.
The youngsters interact through basketball teams, clinics and tournaments, and the program also reaches out to older teens
and adults, training them to be coaches and youth mentors.
In addition to its efforts to promote dialogue and friendship and combat prejudice, PeacePlayers International is also
working to combat the AIDS epidemic which is ravaging Africa, incorporating AIDS / HIV education into its programs in
South Africa and Uganda.
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The Michael Manzella Foundation
Michael Manzella was an accomplished musician and composer who, while at Yale, devoted himself to music and
volunteered much of his time to the community by working with ill and underprivileged children. In 1993 he
succumbed to a two-year struggle with cancer. The Michael Manzella Foundation honors Michael's legacy through its support of
cancer/medical research, children's causes and the arts. One of the foundation's programs is holiday parties
at local children's hospitals, and this year the foundation will be at Winthrop Hospital in Mineola.
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Bethany House
Bethany House operates shelters for mothers and children who are victims of domestic abuse. Currently
there are sixty women and children who are being accommodated in four shelters on Long Island. In addition
to room and board, the program also provides medications and transportation for these Families in need.
Bethany House provides educational programs for mothers so that they can be independent.
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Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul Limerick
St. Vincent's Centre, Lisnargy, Limerick, opened in 1952 to provide services to children with intellectual disabilities.
Since then the Sisters have expanded and developed the Centre to serve adults as well as children. The Centre
uses a multi-disciplinary approach and the wide range of facilities and activities, many of which are now provided
off-campus throughout the region.
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The Injured Marine Semper FI Fund in Honor of Marine
Lieutenant Ronald Winchester
The Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund was formed to provide supplemental assistance to injured Marines and Sailors and their
families, as they face the road to recovery. The fund, named for the U.S. Marines’ motto, which means “always faithful,”
is a not-for-profit, volunteer-run organization based in Oceanside, California. With more than 174,000 active duty Marines
and 37,000 Marine reservists serving our country in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, there is no more worthy national
charity for our St. Patrick’s Parade to support than the Semper Fi Fund.
Marine Lieutenant Ronald Winchester, a resident of Rockville Centre, was killed in action during his second combat tour
in Iraq. The donation to the Semper Fi Fund will be made in his honor.
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The 69th Regiment Restoration Fund
The “Fighting 69th” New York Regiment is one of the most famous units in American military history. From the Civil War,
when it was made up of mostly Irish immigrants, through World War I, with its Chaplain, the immortal “Fighting Father Duffy”
through World War II in the Pacific, up to the present day fighting in Iraq. The Regiment has been legendary in its
courageous service to our country. The restoration fund supports the creation of exhibits of regimental memorabilia at the
69th Regiment Armory.
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The Galway Hospice Foundation
Our 2005 Irish charity, The Galway Hospice Foundation, provides palliative care in their homes to over 100 terminally ill
patients in Galway city and county seven days a week. Since it’s founding in 1990, the association has provided home care
and day care programs for more than 3,000 patients. The foundation is a registered charity receiving no public funding, and
relies on the generosity of the people of Galway and many parts of the world to continue its vital services to those in need.
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The Boomer Esiason Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
The Boomer Esiason Foundation was founded in 1993 by the famed former New York Jets quarterback after
his son, Gunnar, was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. The foundation is strongly committed to supporting
critical research to help find a cure for this genetic respiratory disorder. Recently, BEF donated more
than $2 million to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to combat this fatal disease, and in the past ten years
has raised more than $17 million to fund Cystic Fibrosis research.
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Project Children
Project children is an American-Northern Ireland partnership dedicated to showing Protestant and Catholic
kids that they have nothing to fear from each other and much to gain. The program started in 1975 with six
children from Belfast, three from one community and three from the other. The kids spent that summer in
America, getting to know each other in a small New York town. Now Project Children places more than 600
children from Northern Ireland with host families across America each summer. And several years ago Project
Children expanded to include university students by offering summer internships on Capitol Hill. A few
months later, a new venture with Habitat for Humanity and local trade unions pulled on vocational students
and gave them on-the-job experience building homes in America. Project Children also sponsors programs in
Northern Ireland that bring together Protestant and Catholic children and their families. Although Project
Children has expanded, our vision remains the same: to help build peace in Northern Ireland through its
children and young people.
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Friends of RVC 911 Memorial Foundation
The horrific events of September 11 devastated Rockville Centre and its extended community. The men and
women of Rockville Centre who died on that tragic date all had one thing in common, their commitment to
their families. The Friends of Rockville Centre 911 Memorial Fund honors the lives that were lost by
ensuring the financing of their children’s future education, and by providing for unforeseen needs that
may arise for the families of the victims.
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Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association
The Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association (EPVA) is a non-profit organization with over 2,000 members in New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania and Connecticut. Since its founding in 1946, the EPVA has enabled its members, as wall as, other
persons with disabilities, to lead full and productive lives, the EPVA's overall mission is dedicated to enhancing
the lives of veterans with a spinal cord injury or disease by assuring quality health care, promoting research, and advocating for civil rights
and independence. In addition, the EPVA regularly takes the knowledge gained in its recreation and advocacy programs for members
and brings it to the broader public with physical disabilities. The EPVA's School Visits Program, for example, allows members to
educate the younger generation on what it means to live with a disability.
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Literacy Volunteers of America
The Literacy Volunteers of America - Nassau County is a not-for-profit agency that has been serving the needs of
functionally illiterate people in our area for more than thirty years. Students may include parents struggling to read to their children at bedtime,
grandparents who left school years ago, or new immigrants who need help learning English. With over 1,000 volunteers,
the Nassau County affiliate is one of the nation's largest. Its programs include Basic Literacy Courses, English
for Speakers of Other Languages, the Nassau County Jail Program, Welfare to Work, Family Literacy, Juvenile Offenders
and Computer Training. With Over 40% in some of the county's communities who can't read, this is a hidden problem which the LVA-NC
is working hard to alleviate.
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St. Patrick's Parade Scholarship Fund
Four Substantial scholarships will be awarded to candidates who successfully meet the eligibility criteria. H.S. seniors attending Rockville Centre's Public
Schools, or Rockville Centre Residents attending private schools may apply. The competition is open to all students regardless of race or
ethnic background. One criteria requires the student to submit a written work that depicts
some aspect of Irish history, culture, etc. The specifics and the other eligibility will be
announced following the parade.
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The New York Police and Fire Widows and Children Benefit Fund
Established in 1985 by Rusty Staub, the fund is a nonprofit organization that assists the families of
police officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty. Thus far, over $7.3 million has been given to
help these families defray education, housing and medical expenses. The September 11 World Trade Center
disaster, with the loss of hundreds of firefighters and police officers, has created an urgent need for
increased donations to benefit the families of fallen firefighter and officers.
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The Lower East Side Tenement Museum / Irish Apartment Project
The Lower East Side Tenement Museum’s mission is “to promote tolerance and historical prospective through
the presentation and interpretation of a variety of immigrant and migrant experiences on Manhattan’s Lower
East Side, a “Gateway to America.” The misaim recreates immigrant family residences on the Lower East Side.
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We Care
The Rockville Centre Community Fund has established the “We Care” campaign to distribute assistance funds
exclusively to Rockville Centre Village and School District families impacted by the September 11 World
Trade Center disaster. This effort provides a vehicle for RVC residents to provide immediate assistance to
their neighbors devastated by this tragedy.
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The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children spearheads national efforts to locate and recover
missing children and to raise public awareness about ways to prevent child abduction, molestation and sexual
exploitation. The NCMEC is a private, non-profit organization which works in cooperation with the U.S. Department
of Justice, The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Through its tool free national
hot-line 1-800 THE LOST, it has processed over 1.3 million calls resulting in the recovery of over 47,000 children.
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Bridges to Peace
Bridges To Peace is a non-for-profit organization founded on the conviction that peace and reconciliation
in Northern Ireland can be secured by working at the grass roots level, in the local communities to promote
peacemaking initiatives that recognize the rights of all citizens. The organization's main project areas are:
Reconciliation, Cross-Community Dialogue, Human Rights and Justice and the Involvement of Women in the
Democratic Process.
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St. Agnes Parish Outreach Program
For over 26 years, St. Agnes Parish Service Center has been helping people from all parts of the Rockville Centre
community. Based on love of neighbors and the love of God, the Center provides resources to those in need throughout
the year. Though Rockville Centre is widely regarded as an affluent community, more than eight hundred residents
live below the poverty level, and more than 200 families qualify for Federal rent subsidies. Working
cooperatively with other community outreach programs, The St. Agnes Outreach Program provides food, clothing and other assistance
to those in need, without regard for race, creed or color.
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The Leukemia Society of America
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The "Save-a-Life Project Rockville Centre
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The Jeannie Johnston Project
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Mercy Medical Centre
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Rural Resettlement Ireland
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VA Medical Center
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The American Paralysis Association
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AOH Division 14
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Rockville Centre Children's Fund
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Project Children
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Mayor's Comm. Fund
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Multiple Sclerosis
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