St. Patrick’s Parade breaks $1 million fundraising mark

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They’ve officially marched past a million.

The Rockville Centre St. Patrick’s Day Parade celebrated its 20th year and announced that it has officially raised more than a million dollars for charities — $1,008,000, to be exact — at a party at Kasey’s Kitchen and Cocktails last week.

“I am happy to say with all the hard work that everybody… put in the parade, we did pass the $1 million mark,” said Michael Cosgrove, president of the parade committee.

Three charities — one local, one national and one Irish — received checks for $25,000 each.

This year’s charities were the Tommy Brull Foundation, which donates money to people and organizations that are dedicated to helping those with physical, mental and emotional disabilities on Long Island; the Children’s Tumor Foundation which finds treatments for neurofibromatosis, a condition in which tumors grow on nerves throughout the body; and the Ballinasloe Eagles Special Olympics Club, a voluntarily funded club that encourages those with intellectual disabilities to participate in a range of sports.

“This is unbelievable,” said Martin Brull of the Tommy Brull Foundation. “I can’t believe that you guys raised this much money over the year. But I actually can, because I saw all of the hard work that went in for a full year… What you guys do here is amazing. I can’t believe that this is a private organization that puts on such a huge event. Growing up in Rockville Centre, I thought this parade was put on by the town, it was done by the whole village. But I can’t believe that individuals put actually put together this amazing work you do. I look up to you guys so much… We promise to put this money to great use.”

Grand Marshal Michael O’Reilly received a framed parade poster and framed photos from the parade. “I had the greatest day of my life,” he said. “I had the greatest year of my life. Some things can compare to it, but not too many things can compare to walking up the aisle at St. Agnes Cathedral as Grand Marshal and then walking down the avenue as Grand Marshal… It was a great thrill, the thrill of my life. Thank you very much and god bless you all.”

The parade committee also gave silver plates to parade marchers, with the Uptown String Band winning “Best in Parade.”

Jerry and Kyle Davis and Fenna Zottoli, the five-year-old granddaughter of committee members Sean and Cindi O’Rourke, won the 50/50 raffles.

Cosgrove ended the ceremony by thanking everyone who had worked on the parade, including the 11 new committee members. “We went past a million dollars,” he said. “We’re going to figure out the next goal, and we’re going to get to that next goal, and the next goal after that and help as many charities as we can along the way.”