The Michael Magro Foundation raised an extraordinary $52,000 during the organization's second annual "Evening of Tasting and Giving" in October at The Mansion at Woodlands in Woodbury. The funds will benefit Winthrop-University Hospital's Hagedorn Pediatric Inpatient Center and its Cancer Center for Kids. The foundation honors the life of Michael Magro of Hicksville who passed away in July 2004 after a courageous battle with leukemia.

The Magro Foundation has donated X-Box game consoles and game cartridges as well as portable televisions with stands so that children in treatment have the opportunity to play games that allow them to relax and escape for a little while, as well as arts and crafts supplies and books.

The foundation also provides support and recreational respite to families dealing with childhood cancers. The Foundation makes grants to families in hardship, and provides gift cards to area movie theatres, restaurants, Blockbuster stores, gas stations, and more in order to enable families to get out. They even provide "petty cash" for things like popcorn and drinks at the movies.

"We want to enable families in crisis to step back and take a deep breath, to allow them to go out and forget about the trauma and the hardship for a little while," said Michael's mom, Terri Magro. "It's hard - but important - to focus on the good in life even as you are dealing with terrible difficulties."

For Terrie, donating means honoring the memory of a young man who loved helping others. "Michael was good-hearted," she said. "He would be so happy to know that we are helping other people now - because that is just what he would have wanted to do himself."

Terrie and her husband Paul dealt with two major blows the year that Michael died. "Just months before, our son Marc had been diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease," Terrie said. "In July 2006, Marc passed a critical milestone; he is two years post treatment."

According to AnnMarie DiFrancesca, director of Winthrop's Child Life Program, "The Magro family has made a significant impact on the physical and emotional well-being of countless patients and their families through their foundation."

The following Long Island establishments donated goods and services to help raise money for the Michael Magro Foundation and Winthrop-University Hospital's Hagedorn Pediatric Inpatient Center and Cancer Center for Kids: Baked To Perfection, Port Washington; Bella Vita City Grill, St. James; Blackstone Steakhouse, Melville; Butterfields, Hauppauge; Cardinali Bakery, Carle Place; Cascon Baking Co., Whitestone; Cirella's, Melville; Cool Fish, Syosset; Fiddlehead's Fish House, Oyster Bay; Gourmet Bake Shop, New Hyde Park; Ivy Cottage, Williston Park; Parties To Go, Hauppauge; Restaurant Lori, Southampton; Sea Levels, Brightwaters; The Mansion at Woodlands, Woodbury; and wine distributors Charmer Industries, Peerless, Southern Wine and Spirits and Vinino Wine Co. Inc.

For more information about the Michael Magro Foundation, call Terrie Magro at 633-5341 or visit www.michaelmagrofoundation.com online. For more information about Winthrop's Hagedorn Pediatric Inpatient Center and Cancer Center for Kids call 1-866-WINTHROP.