There are no words for us to express our gratitude for everything everyone did to make the most difficult time of our lives a little easier. We never had to think twice about any details because some caring individuals thought for us and they were all taken care of.

There were so many people who did so much and we want to thank them all from the bottom of our hearts. Many of our relatives could not believe what they saw. Hicksville is a big hearted town with a phenomenal group of people. We are honored and privileged to live in a community as this one.

At this time, we would like to thank the Hicksville Fire Department for graciously hosting a blood drive in Michael's (our son's) honor. The blood that was collected will give the gift of life to many others so that they have a chance of living.

Once again, thank you for all your support, prayers, kindness and help. We will never forget it!

The family of Michael Magro

Terrie, Paul and Marc

On behalf of myself and the Magro family, I would like to thank the Hicksville Board of Fire Commissioners and the Hicksville Fire Department so much for giving us the opportunity to do a community service by holding a blood drive in honor of Michael Magro.

The drive was extremely successful. The people for the Long Island Blood Services could not express enough times how happy they were. This is a difficult time of year for them because the blood reserves are at a low and the drive actually resulted in the collection of three times the amount of pints of blood than usual. What a great tribute to Michael and his family. To all the individuals who stopped by the Hicksville Fire Department and donated that day, a heartfelt thank you.

This drive took a lot of work to coordinate and we were very fortunate to have many, many volunteers. There were dozens of Hicksville children who distributed thousands of fliers. Donald Hudson, Chris Ebbert, Albert Eusini and Michael Ocuto were at the firehouse hours before and after the drive to help set up and help clean up. Friends, neighbors and staff from the Woodland School and others were there to keep the drive flowing. Annette Exler and Jackie Lombardi, co-chairs, were at my side working from start to finish. The Hicksville Illustrated News made sure our ad was printed in the paper on very short notice. This list is endless, but when we needed a place to hold this event, the Hicksville Fire Department came to the rescue. Again, we want to thank the board of commissioners and the Hicksville Fire Department for the commitment to our community.

JoElena Ocuto,

Chairperson