Smithtown To Host Tree Lighting For Child Cancer Victims

Smithtown NY

01 September, 2021

11:21 AM

Description

SMITHTOWN, NY — The Town of Smithtown is ready to go gold for childhood cancer awareness. A tree-lighting ceremony is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at Smithtown Town Hall, located at 99 W. Main St., Smithtown. The town raises awareness each year for childhood cancers throughout September through various activities and events. This year, the Daniela Conte Foundation has donated the lighting and ribbons to illuminate the tree in gold at Town Hall. The tree lighting is in addition to the fencing at Smithtown Town Hall being adorned in gold ribbons and large awareness ribbons being placed in front of the Smithtown Parks Department and bull monument, provided courtesy of the Thomas Scully Foundation. Local mom and advocate Amy Beach will be presenting the Smithtown Central School District with gold laces for students to "Lace up for Kids" in honor of her son Dylan. These efforts are intended to help fund and raise awareness, identify breakthroughs, and fill gaps in the treatment landscape, and direct research to the areas with the greatest need, according to the town. The Daniela Conte Foundation is a not-for-profit organization founded by Anthony and Katia Conte of Dix Hills to honor the life of their daughter, Daniela Marie Conte. The foundation's mission is dedicated to funding research, finding a cure, and new, promising and less toxic treatments for childhood cancer. The organization has a particular interest in Rhabdomyosarcoma. The Thomas Scully Foundation, founded to honor the life of its namesake, is fulfilling this mission with "A Little Bit of Happiness" care packages that bring comfort and joy to the children stuck in local New York hospitals. Additionally, the Thomas Scully Foundation supports a cure for tomorrow by providing "A Little Bit of Hope'' Grants to families seeking innovative treatment for their children. These grants assist families who are New York residents for the time being, although the foundation hopes to expand this in the future. Solving Kids' Cancer finds, funds and advocates for breakthrough treatment options to cure children with the most fatal pediatric cancers. The foundation's focus is on aggressive childhood cancers with low survival rates because "Every Kid Deserves to Grow Up." Solving Kids' Cancer helps accelerate new, next-generation treatments, including immunotherapy, cancer vaccines, and new drugs by applying an understanding of the entire childhood cancer research landscape to wisely invest in innovative projects. The Smithtown Children's Foundation, a not for profit, provides financial and emotional support to families living within the Smithtown School District boundaries. It was originally formed in 2008 to help a local kindergartner diagnosed with Stage 4 Neuroblastoma, but as it pooled resources, it realized it was building something to help an entire community. The Smithtown Children's Foundation helps families in crisis, from paying medical and overdue household bills, to buying medical equipment not covered by insurance. The foundation manages college scholarships for graduating seniors, many in memory of loved ones lost. The foundation has become a resource for Smithtown's most in need, working closely with social workers, providing backpacks/school supplies, as well as holiday gift cards and gifts.