Rockville Centre St. Pat's parade names its charities

The Rockville Centre St. Patrick’s Parade Committee has chosen a Long Island charity dedicated to assisting the parents of children and adults with autism spectrum disorders, a national charity with a mission of assisting America’s severely injured service men and women, and Ireland’s largest pediatric hospital as the three charities it will support financially through the annual event, scheduled for Saturday, March 19.

“The Parade’s Board of Directors takes great care and exercises tremendous due diligence in selecting our three charities every year, as it is the most important thing we will do that year,” explained parade committee co-chairman Sean O’Rourke. “This year we are extremely proud of the high quality of the three charities we will be supporting.”

Since the Rockville Centre St. Patrick’s Parade first stepped off in 1997, it has, over the course of 14 years, become one of the best attended and supported parades outside of New York City. In those years, it has distributed over $622,000 to 42 separate charities in keeping with its motto, “The parade that cares and shares.”

The local charity chosen by the Parade Committee this year is the Nassau-Suffolk Chapter of the Autism Society of America (NSASA), a parent-driven organization serving over 1,400 families on Long Island that are coping with autism spectrum disorder. Autism is a complex neurological disorder that typically lasts a person’s lifetime, impairing the ability to communicate and relate to others. Currently, 1 in 150 children are being diagnosed on the autism spectrum. Because there is no definitive cause, prevention or cure, parents of autistic individuals take one day at a time. The disease can lead those afflicted to engage in undesirable behaviors and can cause families to remain isolated at home. Research indicates that an appropriate educational setting and access to social opportunities can result in significant improvements in the quality of life for those suffering from autism. The mission of the NSASA is to provide such settings and opportunities to families struggling with the disease. NSASA is staffed entirely by volunteers, and all proceeds from its fund-raising efforts are used to provide free educational, recreational and social opportunities to families touched by autism. “The work that NSASA does to help people impacted by this all too common disease is amazing, and we are delighted to support them,” said O’Rourke.

The national charity chosen by the parade committee is Wounded Warrior Project (WWP), whose mission is to honor and empower injured service members. WWP was created when a group of veterans were watching the evening news and were moved by the difficult stories of the first wounded service members returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq. They realized that something had to be done for these brave individuals beyond the brass bands and ticker tape parades. The result was WWP, whose objective is to provide tangible support for the wounded and to help them on the road to recovery, both physically and emotionally. This support comes in numerous forms, including advocacy, benefits counseling, family support and caregiver retreats and peer mentoring. WWP backpacks are also delivered to the bedsides of wounded warriors. “WWP has dedicated every effort they can in making people aware of the suffering endured by our wounded warriors and we are happy to support them,” said parade co-chairwoman Kathleen Schwarting.

The Irish charity selected by the Parade Committee is Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin, Dublin, which opened in November 1956 and has grown into Ireland’s largest pediatric teaching hospital with 248 beds and over 1,500 staff. Designed specifically to care for and treat sick children, the hospital is built on a site of approximately 7.5 acres provided to it by the Archbishop of Dublin. It is involved in teaching all disciplines of health care and research and has an international reputation for the quality of that research. On a yearly basis, the hospital treats over 24,500 inpatients and day cases, 30,100 Emergency Department attendances, 76,000 out patients and performs over 13,000 surgeries. The Hospital has a long and distinguished history, and we think they are a very worthy Irish charity,” Schwarting said.

To learn more about “The parade that cares and shares,” visit www.rvcstpatrick.com.