Award ceremony honors RVC St. Patrick's Day parade participants

The Rockville Centre St. Patrick’s Day Parade committee gathered at Kasey’s Kitchen and Cocktails on May 24 to present each of the three charities — one local, one national, and one based in Ireland — with a check for $60,000.

“On behalf of the Rockville Centre St. Patrick’s Parade we were delighted to present our 2023 charities … with checks for $60,000 each,” Jackie Kerr, president of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee said in a statement. “This has been our most successful parade since our inception and we give a great deal of thanks to this parade committee and our 2023 Parade Grand Marshal Tommy McNicholas and his family, friends and our local community.”

McNicholas, a second-generation Irish immigrant was born and raised in Rockville Centre, where he resides with his wife of 25 years, Denice, and their three children, Alexandria, Ryan and T.J. He is also the owner of Kasey’s Kitchen and Cocktails, which played host to the award ceremony as well as several other charitable events. 

“Each year we help raise money for charity,” Rockville Centre St. Patrick’s Day Parade Grand Marshal Thomas McNicholas told the Herald. “For me, that’s what it’s all about.”

Since 1997, the St. Patrick’s Day committee has helped distribute more than $1.4 million to charities all around the world. This year, three checks were presented to the Ryan Patrick O’Shea Foundation, HELP Uganda, and the St. Laserian’s School in Carlow, Ireland.

During the celebration, awards were presented to participants for their performance, design, and overall participation in the parade festivities.

This year, the award for best marching band was presented to Greg Schaefer from Better Home Healthcare, best appearing pipe band was presented to the FDNY Emerald Society Pipes and Drums, best fire and police departments was presented to the Nassau County Sheriff’s Department Honor Guard, and best in parade was presented to James McDonald from Lost Dog Art and Frame Company. The award for best youth group was a tie between SIBSPlace and School of Rock RVC.

“The night of the awards dinner gave us such pleasure,” Kerr said. “Many of us were in tears. My heart was filled with overwhelming joy for these three charities.”

Known throughout the community as “The Parade that Shares and Cares,” the St. Patrick’s Day Parade committee has continued to help raise money for charity since its humble beginnings on March 22, 1997.

Past charities that have benefited from the parade include the RVC Breast Cancer Coalition, Army Ranger Lead the Way Fund, and the Holy Family School for the Deaf in 2022; The Opening Word, The HEARTest Yard, and The New York Irish Center in 2019; Life’s WORC Family Center for Autism, Family Lives on Foundation, and the Irish American Heritage Museum in Albany in 2018; the BackYard Players and Friends, Breathe Believe, and Pieta House in 2017; the Tommy Brull Foundation, Children’s Tumor Foundation, and the Ballinasloe Eagles Special Olympics Club in 2016, along with countless others in the more than two decades since it started.