The Mary Ruchalski Foundation made 2025 its most impactful year yet, continuing its mission to fight pediatric cancer.
Driven by a year of successful fundraising efforts, the Rockville Centre-based nonprofit awarded $105,000 in grants to four nationally recognized cancer research institutions: the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Children’s Cancer Therapy Development Institute.
The grants were formally presented during the final week of the year, marking a significant milestone for the organization.
“It’s amazing how these big research labs are coming to us for funding,” Carol Ruchalski, the mother of the late Mary Ruchalski and the foundation’s creator, said. “This year more than ever, it was so important that we gave it to them. I feel like Mary made that happen for me.”
Each of the labs focuses on advancing treatments and working toward cures for pediatric cancers, including rhabdomyosarcoma — the rare disorder that claimed Mary Ruchalski’s life in 2018, when she was 12. The foundation created in her memory has since grown into a trusted source of support for both researchers and families affected by childhood cancer.
“It’s just such a nice way to honor Mary’s memory and keep up our campaign of raising awareness and helping families,” her mother said. “The money comes in and then we’re immediately helping people.”
In addition to supporting research, the foundation also prioritized direct assistance to families affected by pediatric cancer. In 2025 it provided $20,000 in financial aid to five national families to help ease the burden of medical expenses and related costs.
“It’s amazing how many cancer families come to us for help,” Ruchalski said. “It just keeps us going to say that, ‘Yes, we need to find a cure, we need to find better treatment.’ That’s basically what our drive is for the year.”
Since its founding, the foundation has raised nearly $1.2 million, much of it from annual community-driven events such as Play 4 Mary, the Mary Cup and the Light the Way campaign, all of which have become fixtures in Rockville Centre and surrounding towns.
One of Carol Ruchalski’s most meaningful moments of 2025 occurred during a visit to South Side High School, where she spoke to students and staff about her daughter and the foundation’s mission.
“A teacher said to me, ‘I feel like I know Mary from you,’” she recounted. “That was very heartwarming, and that was my goal — that people wouldn’t forget her, and that people would know her and what a wonderful person she was.”
The foundation maintains a close partnership with the Rockville Centre community, including the local school district. South Side High School’s Wellness Club has supported the organization through volunteer work and fundraising initiatives.
“We put lights outside the school, and every light is about $5, and it’s a donation that the kids make and then all the teachers make,” Liz Marshall, a South Side phys. ed. teacher, explained. “We do it for her. Over the years it just evolved into such a beautiful thing, with the amount of kids and the amount of teachers that donate.”
Beyond fundraising, the Wellness Club has helped promote pediatric cancer awareness by distributing yellow shoelaces to athletic teams during Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month in September. Club members also bagged more than 100 Roku devices collected by the foundation, which were donated to children undergoing cancer treatment.
Resident Jaime Madden, an early volunteer who helped launch the Light the Way campaign, has remained closely involved with the organization. For the campaign, residents purchase gold lanterns and bows to display outside their homes throughout September in honor of pediatric cancer awareness.
“Volunteering for the foundation has been a tremendous blessing,” Madden wrote to the Herald. “I really believe that the foundation is making a huge impact in so many ways; raising money for a cure which I pray I see in my lifetime, raising awareness to drive more funding to pediatric cancer, and bringing the community together in so many different ways.”
Ruchalski said that the focus in 2026 would be on expanding outreach and increasing awareness beyond the Rockville Centre area.
“I’m really going to try to expand our message to other communities,” she said. “I’d love to get into another community that’s not familiar with Mary and the foundation, and talk about what we do and expand our place. I think that would be a really big step for us.”
For more information about the foundation and its work, visit TheMaryRuchalskiFoundation.org.
