Rockville Centre St. Patrick’s Day Parade committee names Greg Schaefer grand marshal

Greg Schaefer has been named the grand marshal of this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which will take place on Saturday, March 23, at noon.

“I was shocked, to be honest with you,” Schaefer said. “To get that call was very exciting.”

Schaefer, 49, was born and raised in Rockville Centre, where he lives with his wife, Michelle, their 12-year-old son, Cain, and their 10-year-old daughter, Cameron. Greg is the president and chief executive officer of the Better Home Health Care Agency, which has provided patient care to people on the South Shore of Long Island since 1987.

“Primarily, we provide home health aides to individuals who want to stay at home rather than go into assisted living or a nursing home,” Schaefer explained.

He joined Better Home Health Care in 1996, and was named CEO in 2018. He now leads an agency with more than 500 employees that has earned a reputation as one of the leading providers of home health care in the counties it serves.

Schaefer has been a member of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee for 10 years, and has won both the Best in Show and Best Marching Band awards. He served as president of the Chamber of Commerce from 2014 to 2017, and was named the Nassau Council of Chambers’ Small Businessperson of the Year in 2013.

In addition to his work in the community, Schaefer coaches his son’s and daughter’s CYO and Little League teams.

Since the parade made its debut in 1997, the parade committee has helped raise more than $1.6 million for charitable organizations, living up to its slogan as “the parade that cares and shares.”

Schaefer will be the youngest grand marshal in its history. “It’s a great group of people to even be mentioned with,” he said of his predecessors. “Over the last 26 years I have gotten to know close to 20 of them.”

He joins the ranks of noteworthy community members including former Bishop John McGann; NYPD Detective Steven McDonald; Dr. Drew Bogner, former president of Molloy College; and Mayor Francis Murray.

In the weeks leading up to the parade, the committee will host several events to raise money for three charities — one local, one national or international and one Irish. This year, they are Beyond the Badge, the Limb Kind Foundation and the Crocus Cancer Support Centre in Monaghan County, Ireland.

“The parade always does such wonderful things for the charities,” Schaefer said.

Beyond the Badge is a local nonprofit created by two retired law enforcement officers to raise awareness of suicide and mental health challenges among first responders. Its goal is to help police officers, firefighters and EMTs understand “it’s OK to not be OK.”

The Limb Kind Foundation, headquartered in Ozone Park, Queens, is dedicated to improving the lives of children with limb loss both domestically and internationally by strengthening the amputee community and providing prosthetic care to those in need.

The Crocus Cancer Support Centre is a peer support group for those living with cancer who are at different stages of recovery. Participants help support one another by sharing experiences and offering advice.

The next fundraiser will be the Taste of Rockville Centre, on Jan. 26, at 7 p.m., at St. Agnes Cathedral. The event will feature a variety of dishes from more than 20 area restaurants. There will also be wine tasting, microbrewery samplings, dessert and a coffee bar.

Leading up to the big event, the parade committee will also host its annual Grand Marshal Dinner Reception at the Bridgeview Yacht Club, in Island Park, on March 21 at 7 p.m.

The St. Patrick’s Day Parade will be held rain or shine on March 23, following a morning Mass at St. Agnes. Staging will begin at 10:30 a.m., with the parade set to step off at noon from the municipal parking lot on the north side of Sunrise Highway, between North Long Beach Road and North Forest Avenue.

The parade is scheduled to take about two hours. There will be no parking along the parade route, and no parking on North Long Beach Road between Sunrise and Water Street.

Visit RVCStPatrick.com for more details on the charities, the grand marshal and the parade route.