Rockville Centre Strikers collect band-aids for pediatric cancer patients

Members of the Rockville Centre Strikers soccer team, with help from the community, have collected more than 12,000 band-aids, which they will donate to the pediatric cancer center at New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital in Manhattan.

Ashlynn McCrorty, of Bethpage, lost her twin brother, Matthew, to pediatric liver cancer about 10 years ago. She joined the Strikers, a 15-and-under soccer club in the village, last year, and the team decided to help out children going through what her brother endured.

Dr. Darrell Yamashiro, who treated Matthew, said the team could help by collecting band-aids with characters on them. “These kids get poked with needles constantly,” said Ashlynn’s mother, Carol. “…The hospital has just regular plain band-aids, and Dr. Yamashiro said the kids always ask for a Mickey Mouse or an Avengers band-aid to make them feel like super heroes just to make the experience a little better.”

Rockville Centre resident Jaime Madden, whose daughter Emma plays on the Strikers, organized the drive, as the players hand-delivered letters around the village asking for donations. Community members would drop off boxes at the Madden residence, and Brownie Troop 819, which comprises second-graders from Francis F. Wilson Elementary School, also helped the effort.

“The town has been unbelievably generous,” Madden said. “It’s just such a great community we live in.”

Alix Cohen, who leads Troop 819 with Lucy Cavanaugh, said the team was able to help explain to the second-graders where the band-aids were going in a kid-friendly way. “The Strikers soccer team, they’re great girls and they’re great role models for the younger girls,” said Alix Cohen, co-leader of Troop 819.

This is not the first time the Strikers have donated their time to help people in need. The team has volunteered by shopping for and wrapping gifts for families supported by Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and one year threw a holiday party at the Ronald McDonald House in New Hyde Park.

Madden set a “lofty” goal at the beginning of the month of 5,000 band-aids, but easily surpassed that within three weeks, she said. The team has more than 12,000 character band-aids and will continue to collect through December. Those interested can drop them off in bins to be stationed at the John A. Anderson Recreation Center — 111 N. Oceanside Road.

“The amount of band-aids they collected completely blew my mind,” Carol said. “Having my child go through that … just to have that to put a little smile on their face [is important].”