Sarah Grace Foundation 2025 Year In Review

2025 has been an exciting year for The Sarah Grace Foundation for Children With Cancer, Inc. filled with charitable endeavors rooted in the mission of Sarah’s Angels. Since its founding in 2003 in honor of Sarah Grace Weippert, the Foundation has remained all volunteer, committed to helping children with cancer and their families. The Foundation’s motto is “providing smiles for children; one child at a time.”

The Foundation kicked off fundraising in February with a clothing drive hosted through the Hicksville J-Birds Robotics Team. March was a busy month as the Foundation kicked off its annual “Hugs For Sarah Virtual 5K” in honor of Sarah’s 35th birthday. The Virtual 5K encouraged participants to walk, run, bike etc., between March and May.

In April, the Foundation hosted its second “An Evening of Magic,” held at the Milleridge Inn featuring Magician/Mentalist Gary Ferrar. The event was a huge success, with rave reviews from attendees. The Foundation has scheduled another event for April 10, 2026, featuring Magician/Mentalist Will Fern. Tickets for the April event go on sale soon and the event is limited seating, advance sale only. Mark your calendars so you don’t miss this great event!

Throughout the year Sarah’s Angels were busy on several ventures, continually distributing craft activities for spring, summer, fall and Christmas while at the same time distributing new books to Cohen, Montefiore, NYU Langone, Orlando Health/Arnold Palmer, Nemours and more. Over the summer months, the Foundation continued to replenish Chemo Duck and collected backpacks and school supplies as part of its “Back to School” program which was assisted by collections from Ray Leventhal Clothing in Plainview. Although children with cancer are not in the traditional classroom there is still a great need for school supplies for hospital or home-based learning. Providing these items eases the financial strain on the family.

Additionally, thanks to community support, the Foundation has continued to provide financial aid to families of children with cancer, including; transportation assistance, household expenses, prescription co-pays, funeral expenses and an overwhelming need for supermarket gift cards to those families experiencing food insecurities.
September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month, and the Foundation was hard at work distributing daily information boosts, as well as participating in Childhood Cancer Awareness Events, encouraging everyone to wear gold ribbons in support of children with cancer. As fall arrived the Foundation shipped out 575 Halloween trick-or-treat goodie bags and provided fall craft projects for children at local pediatric cancer centers.
“All of this was accomplished through the generosity of our donors and fundraising events held to fulfill its mission,” said Matt Weippert, Executive Director of the Foundation.

“The Holiday Extravaganza raffle held in November raised $6,500 for the foundation’s holiday programs,” said Weippert. “We are incredibly grateful to all our supporters, as well as all of the organizations and businesses we have partnered with this year to continue supporting these children and their families.”
In October the Foundation launched its new website dedicated to children with cancer and to provide more transparent details about the programs and activities sponsored on behalf of children with cancer. We invite you to visit our new website and explore the tremendous opportunities for these children that your generosity enables us to offer.

The foundation hosted both online and in-person toy drives to guarantee a brighter holiday for these children. The Foundation is grateful to Ray Leventhal Clothing in Plainview, Hicksville Middle School Student Council, Hicksville High School Student Government and UPS Store #7718 in Davenport FL for hosting toy drives benefiting The Sarah Grace Foundation. “Our Foundation, along with the children and families we serve, is forever indebted to their generosity and all of those involved,” stated Weippert. “Coordinating a toy drive may seem like an easy task, but it is not. Many hours go into planning, organizing, and implementing its success. This could not have succeeded without “Sarah’s Angels” facilitating toy pickups, sorting, and shipping. Gift certificates are great, but the smile on a child’s face when they unwrap a toy is priceless,” Weippert said, adding, “For many of these children the toys the Foundation provides will be the only gifts they receive this holiday season and thanks to this overwhelming support we have delivered more than 500 toys to seven (7) pediatric cancer centers”

Recently, the Foundation received grants from the Nassau County Bar Association – WE CARE Fund in direct support of the Chemo Duck program. The Foundation has also been the recipient of a grant by the Dunkin Joy In Childhood Foundation in support of Foundation programs providing meal vouchers and grocery gift cards to families experiencing food insecurity. “Without the tremendous community support the Foundation has received for more than 22 years and grants from these generous organizations, many programs would not be possible. The children with cancer we serve would experience a much more detrimental impact from their disease,” Weippert continued.

For more information on The Sarah Grace Foundation, please call (516) 433-9745 or visit the Foundation’s website at www.TheSarahGraceFoundation.org. Donations or requests for information may be sent to the Foundation at 17 E. Old Country Road, Unit B, PMB 202, Hicksville, NY 11801.