2012 was an
incredibly successful year for the Long Island-based Sarah Grace Foundation For
Children With Cancer, Inc., which held numerous events to help children with
cancer and their families. The Foundation honors the memory of Sarah Grace
Weippert, who valiantly fought acute lymphoblastic leukemia, but unfortunately
lost her battle with the aggressive disease in November 2002.
In 2003,
Hicksville residents Matt and Marissa Weippert formed The Sarah Grace
Foundation and for the last ten years along with their son James and The Sarah
Grace Foundation's Board of Directors and volunteers, have been working to help
children and their families faced with the challenges and hardships brought
upon by childhood cancer. The
Foundation’s mission is to provide child cancer sufferers with some laughs,
smiles or momentary escapes from the reality of daily cancer treatments.
The work that
Matt and Marissa are doing with the Sarah Grace Foundation provides a positive
outlet for many families during a difficult time. At Thanksgiving, supermarket giftcards were distributed to
families referred by the Pediatric Oncology Social Workers at Cohen Children’s
Medical Center of NY and Winthrop University Hospital, among others.
“The goal of our gift card program is to
provide assistance to families enduring extreme financial hardships and help
ease their burden of providing a holiday meal to their family,” said Matt
Weippert. “Day to day life is
difficult enough for most of these families; the least we can do is to help provide
a holiday meal.”
In December,
the Foundation was fortunate to receive toy donations from the Hicksville
Middle School Student Council. Our friends at the law firm of Ruskin Moscou Faltischek,
P.C. once again assisted the Foundation with a toy
drive and donations to help provide for its Holiday programs. Members of the community also reached
out during the holidays by donating gifts for the children. Westy Self Storage also provided the
Foundation use of its Hicksville facility for event preparations; the staff
graciously allowed them to use their facility not just for wrapping holiday
party gifts, but also for packaging over 580 Halloween trick or treat bags
earlier in the year. Additionally,
Andy and the staff of the UPS store in Delco Plaza assisted with the
distribution of gift packages at Christmas and throughout the year.
“Our
foundation, along with the children and families we serve, is forever indebted
to the generosity of these organizations and all of those involved,” stated
Marissa Weippert. “Coordinating a
toy drive may seem like an easy task, but it is not. Many hours go into planning, organizing and implementing its
success.”
On December 9,
the Foundation was extremely proud to host its 10th Annual
Holiday Party for children with cancer and their families at Cohen Children’s
Medical Center in New Hyde Park.
This year’s party included music and entertainment, once again provided
by Barattini Productions as well as clowns, face painting, and a visit from
Santa. All of the children had a
great time and each received gifts prior to leaving. Prior to visiting the party, Santa visited the children who
were in-patient and could not attend the party; Santa personally gave each
child a gift along with Christmas wishes. Additionally, refreshments were
provided by Phil and Sons Pizza in Plainview, Cakes a la Moda and
Primocakes.com.
Throughout the past year the Foundation has continued it’s
sponsorship of The Bead Program, which allows each child to tell their own
unique story about their journey utilizing various colored, glass beads, each
representing a particular area of treatment. Additionally the Foundation remains the NY Metropolitan
sponsor of Gabe’s Chemo Duck.
According to
Matt Weipert, The Foundation also sponsors The Escape Hatch™, which allows the
children to escape to a different world, away from the pain and negative
experience they are going through, as well as financial aid, funeral assistance
and more, on a referral basis. In
2012, The Sarah Grace Foundation was the “Courage Sponsor” for the first annual
Pediatric Cancer Survivors Day hosted at Eisenhower Park by Cohen Children’s
Medical Center.
“The Sarah
Grace Foundation, along with all of its programs, helps to ease the burden
these families endure throughout their illnesses. The Foundation has become an essential resource that has assisted
so many families with basic needs and a distraction from their treatments,”
stated Matt Weippert, adding, "We are grateful to our volunteers and
supporters for continuing to honor Sarah’s memory and providing the fuel that
keeps our mission going.”
In
order to continue providing families with support and to finance ongoing
programs the Foundation relies heavily on donations and fundraising events
throughout the year. In 2012 the
Foundation benefited from events such as its 9th Annual Night of Laughter, 2nd
Annual Kings Park/Commack Alumni Hockey Game, 2nd annual theatrical fundraiser Unrehearsed:
A Night of Improv,
a Steppin-N-Style Dance-A-Thon, and the 2nd Annual Holiday Extravaganza
fundraising raffle that provided daily winners through the month of November.
The
Sarah Grace Foundation is gearing up for their initial 2013 events, which
include the 10th Annual Night of Laughter (Friday, April 12 at The Milleridge
Cottage) and plans to hold its 5th Annual Hugs for Sarah Memorial Blood Drive
on Saturday, March 30 at the William P. Bennett Community Center in Hicksville.
2013
is a very important year for The Sarah Grace Foundation as it marks the 10th
anniversary of supporting children with cancer and their families. The Foundation has started this
commemorative year by launching a new website at www.thesarahgracefoundation.org.
“This
anniversary is a milestone in that it is difficult to believe we have been
doing this for ten years, but even more difficult to realize that our angel,
Sarah, has been gone from us that long,” said Matt
Weippert. “This anniversary is not
a celebration but a commemoration of a young life cut too short; and a
recognition of all the positive things being done in Sarah’s memory.”
For more
information on The Sarah Grace Foundation For Children With Cancer, Inc., call
(516) 433-9745 or visit the foundation’s website at www.TheSarahGraceFoundation.org. Donations or requests for information
may be sent to the foundation at:
217 Plainview Road, Hicksville, NY
11801.
Sarah Grace Foundation Continues Spreading Hope
Nancy Barbach, Matt Weippert, Marissa Weippert and James Weippert at the Sarah Grace Foundation For Children With Cancer's 2012 Holiday Party.
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Greg Bashaw May 21, 2013 at 09:32 pm
As for the mandate, maybe YOU should run for the Board, we need a change and thats WHY I am…Read More running... Thanks for the info though!
Greg Bashaw May 21, 2013 at 09:30 pm
FYI- Rosemary Corliss, mentioned it 2times as something are are planning to loo at....at Meet the…Read More Candidates Night......
Pat Boyle Egland May 20, 2013 at 04:06 pm
The NBUFSD BOE has not mentioned cutting bussing in over a year, it is not a part of the 2013-2014…Read More budget.
The pensions and benefits are not regulated by the BOE it is a state mandate.
Greg Bashaw May 20, 2013 at 12:50 am
Well for starters, why not give candidates 401K's and only pay a proportion of their benefits...Hire…Read More teachers and adm that actually live in our district...... Has anybody proposed dismantling the high school district......From the way I understand they have tried unsuccessfully to combine, well then how about saving moneu and splitting up the 3 high schools...This was we wont need 2 administrations...... I will try and I will think out of the box!
Dan DeLilla May 18, 2013 at 10:40 pm
So Lu Scala never had any children so it might be safe to say you have never been to a PTA meeting…Read More or a School Board meeting or a budget presentation so then you would have no idea how the money is spent good or bad. I'm sorry that your neighbors make more than you but like anything else you get what you pay for there are educational requirements for teaching and administration jobs, I'm sure you would be happy if all the school personnel could be replaced by minimum wage earners or better yet we could close all the schools after all you have been out of school for 40 years so you don't need them anymore, but thats not how it works. Why is always the uninformed that speak loudest and longest?
Lu Scala May 17, 2013 at 08:49 am
I never had any kids.. and am the last kid who went to to the Bellmore Merrick school system.....its…Read More been almost 40 years since I was a Mempham grad..and it is very disharting to hear that my many many high tax dollars..are not enought for these kids I have been sororting all these years!!! Who is getting all the money??? Its all bull.. aI live inbetween teachers.. how is it they can afford high end cars, housekeepers, landscapers, ect??????... the money is being spent in the WRONG WAYS TO THE TEACHERS, AND MOST OF ALL THE ADMISTRATION, THE SCHOOL BOARD ECT... I AM CALLING FOR A MASSIVE AUDIT AND GET0 per year.. they afe not worth any more then that.. THE MONEY BACK FROM ANYONE WHO WAS PAID MORE THEN $75,00....
patti May 16, 2013 at 08:28 pm
A bit of a surprise considering kids come home with a supply list a mile long (and average $40-$75).