Taste of Rockville Centre fundraiser set for Jan. 25

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The Rockville Centre St. Patrick’s Parade is set to host the 15th annual Taste of Rockville Centre on Jan. 25, which will raise money leading up to one of the village’s most anticipated events.

Tickets to the Taste of Rockville Centre are limited. Guests 21 and older will be able to taste dishes and wine from local establishments. The event runs from 7 to 10 p.m. at the St. Agnes Parish Center on North Village Avenue.

Each year, the parade supports three charities — a local charity, a national charity and an Irish charity — and has raised more than $1.2 million over its first 22 years.

The parade committee chose The Opening Word, a group that provides literacy, English as a Second Language and job-readiness programs to immigrant women on Long Island, as this year’s local charity. The group’s students hail from countries around the world, many of who are barely literate. Despite those handicaps, about a third of the students see employment gains. It has branches in Wyandanch, Huntington Station and Amityville.

The selected national charity is The HEARTest Yard, a North Carolina-based charity founded in 2012 by Carolina Panthers tight end Greg Olsen and his wife. The Olsens founded this charity after they discovered their son, TJ, would be born with hypoplastice left heart syndrome. Today, TJ thrives and the The HEARTest Yard has helped numerous other babies afflicted with the disease beat the daunting odds and thrive as well.

The Irish charity chosen is The New York Irish Center, a community center in Long Island City founded in 2005 with the mission of providing social and cultural services to Irish immigrants in the tri-state area.

The grand marshal of the parade will be Dr. Drew Bogner, a Rockville Centre resident that has been the president of Molloy College since 2000. Under Bogner’s dynamic leadership, Molloy College has transformed from an unheralded local college to being recognized in recent years for its excellence in nursing and overall value.

To learn more about the parade, or to buy tickets to the Taste of Rockville Centre, visit www.rvcstpatrick.com.