Gabi’s garden grows Rockville Centre community unity

Memorial dedicated to late St. Mark’s student

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On Oct. 16, 2018, Rockville Centre lost a very special girl. Gabriella Pellicani, known to her friends and family as “Gabi,” died at the age of 5 after a battle with brain cancer. On June 6, St. Mark’s Cooperative Nursery School unveiled a tribute to the late student, Gabi’s Garden, to ensure her brave battle with the disease and its impact on the community will not be forgotten.

Gabi and her parents, Fabiana and Nick Pellicani, were relatively new to the village at the time of her death, having moved from the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn in June 2017. But in just over a year in the village, Gabi earned the admiration of her peers and teachers with her love of life, despite enduring harrowing radiation treatments.

“She always lived life to the fullest,” said Katie Preston, the mother of Gabi’s classmate Charlie. “Any day was always the best day to her. She always had such a bright spirit.”

Gabi died 10 months after being diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive and incurable form of brain cancer. Despite her illness, she attended St. Mark’s Nursery School and kindergarten at Watson Elementary School.

Fabiana said she and Nick wanted to create the garden by the time their son, Antonio, graduated from St. Mark’s this year.

By its opening, the garden next to Temple B’Nai Sholom on Hempstead Avenue had become a full playground, with a stage and little stools in the corner. Children played on the playground, danced on the stage and painted stones to commemorate Gabi throughout the playground. The Pellicanis said they were excited to see students who knew Gabi, but also relished having younger students there showing the same carefree excitement that characterized their daughter.

The garden pays tribute to different parts of Gabi’s personality. The chalkboard enables children to express themselves through art, which Gabi loved to do, her teachers said. Paintings that Gabi made in class line the halls to this day.

In addition to their efforts to complete the garden, the Pellicanis started an annual Golfing for Gabi outing, the third of which is to be held Sept. 23. Last October, the golf outing raised nearly $60,000 to support brain cancer research at Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where Gabi underwent a clinical trial. And fixtures of the community, including the Recreation Center, Fire Department, St. Agnes CYO basketball and Watson School PTA, among others, supported the Gabi’s Garden Committee.

The Pellicanis and their supporters also organized bake sales throughout the village, including a few at the Recreation Center. As their fundraisers continued, the plans for the garden grew.

“I had very small ambitions,” Nick said. “These were small bake sales that made like $20 or $30 at a time, and I didn’t think this was going to be the result.” Nick said he and his wife were blown away by the support they received having only lived in the village for a short time.

A total of $20,000 was raised, evenly split between the bake sales and private donations.

For more information on the golf outing, visit to golfingforgabi.com. Donations in support of pediatric brain cancer research can also be made in Gabi’s memory at danafarber.jimmyfund.org/goto/gabistrong.

The garden is expected grow as the community continues to show interest in making it a place to remember one of the village’s bravest children. “I’m always nervous about fundraising fatigue, but it’s been the complete opposite,” Nick said. “People are more supportive and more excited, and that’s not what I expected.”