Thursday, October 1, 2026
Malverne residents came together to light their tree gold Sept. 9, honoring child cancer patients for Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month.
People gathered for the yearly tradition in Sgt. Thomas J Winters park for the ceremony, organized by Carol Ruchalski, founder of the Mary Ruchalski Foundation in Rockville Centre. The Foundation does tree lightings in communities around Long Island to raise awareness about pediatric cancer throughout September.
The event dates back to 2018, when Ruchalski and her family created this foundation. Ruchalski’s daughter Mary died at 12 of rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare form of cancer that develops in soft tissue. Carol did it as a way to honor Mary’s legacy and support other families struggling with such a diagnosis.
During her speech, Ruchalski spoke about the difficulties institutions face when trying to get research grants for child cancer research. She talked about how often laboratories have to rely on private donations to keep their research going.
“In 2026, isn’t this crazy when we’re sending people to the moon for fun? When celebrity weddings cost $50 million?” Ruchalski said.
According to Ruchalski, her foundation has raised almost $1 million for research grants for places like Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s child cancer wing – MSK Kids – and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. She also said that they have provided about $250,000 to families in need of financial support.
Ruchalski was joined by Marie Giallombardo of the Life for Gina Foundation. Giallombardo’s daughter, Gina, died of the same form of cancer as Mary. The two often go to tree lighting events together and Giallombardo supports her with events like the Gold Gala.
Giallombardo was holding a picture of her daughter. She spoke about the importance of events like the tree lighting for the community.
“It brings awareness, we really need that.” Giallombardo said. She also pointed out that, according to the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation, childhood cancer research only accounts for about 4% of federal cancer research funding.
Mayor Timothy Sullivan also attended and spoke on the foundations.
“These are two very powerful women that advocate for resources that, in our wealthy nation, are not available for child cancer research,” Sullivan said of Ruchalski and Giallombardo. “They’ve done a wonderful job not only advocating for resources to find cures for these cancers, but really turning their children’s memories into wonderful legacies and making a difference from one community to another.”
Ruchalski also reflected on her personal connection to the Malverne community, which was one of the first to take part in the tree lighting tradition.
“Malverne is such a special place for me and my family, because you really opened your heart,” Ruchalski said. “I didn’t even know [Sullivan], and he was so intrigued by Mary’s story and how kind of him to light this tree. I’m so touched.”
