LI's Olivia Hope Foundation To Hold 6th Annual Gala For Childhood Cancer Research

GARDEN CITY, NY — People will have the opportunity to have fun, indulge and win prizes while raising money in the fight against childhood cancer.

Olivia Hope Foundation of Syosset's sixth annual "Evening of Hope" is scheduled to run from 7 to 11 p.m. May 9 at the Garden City Hotel, at 45 7th St., Garden City.

The foundation encourages people to eat, drink, dance and glean inspiration from powerful speeches by cancer survivors, researchers and foundation leaders. Tickets are $250 or $175 for those under 21 or 65 and older and can be purchased here.

The foundation was created in memory of Olivia Hope LoRusso, who died of acute myeloid leukemia in 2017 at the age of 12.

Shelley LoRusso, Olivia's mother, co-founded the charity with Amy Nikolai, Linda Donato and Lauree Vasta. Olivia's sisters, Gia and Sabrina, are also integral members of the foundation. Olivia Hope Foundation dreams to cure childhood cancer while helping children who are fighting the disease.

"It is going to be a great night for a great cause," Shelley LoRusso told Patch.

Nikolai added, "We are excited as we always are."

The gala, Nikolai said, allows donors to see the kind of work Olivia Hope Foundation accomplishes.

"We hope people match our enthusiasm and our hard work with their generosity," said Renata Solomou, donor relations and community outreach specialist with Olivia Hope Foundation.

Click here to read a Q&A with Olivia Hope Foundation's Gia LoRusso.

The "centerpiece" of the gala, Nikolai said, is Olivia Hope Foundation's new partnership with Cohen Children's Medical Center. Olivia Hope Foundation presented a check for $150K to the medical center in Queens last Wednesday.

"That collaboration will open up a pool of kids to help that was beyond anything we’ve ever found ourselves in," Nikolai said.

Dr. Betsy Barnes from Cohen Children’s Medical Center will serve as the gala's keynote speaker.

Olivia Hope Foundation will also be auctioning off prizes, including a trip to Sicily. A friend of Shelley's has donated her waterfront apartment for six nights. The friend has family members who own restaurants in the area, and a cooking class in a local apartment on the Mediterranean is part of the package. The town is the same location where they filmed "The Godfather Part II" and Season 2 of "The White Lotus."

Other auction items that people can bid on include a trip to the Cayman Islands, as well as golf outings.

Funding raised from the gala will go to the foundation's new partnership with Cohen Children's Medical Center, the foundation shared.

"It would be to keep supporting the research," Solomou said. "And to grow our Warrior Support."

Warrior Support is one of the foundation's programs; it provides assistance for children who are going through cancer treatments and their families.

"We are at the edge, really, of taking the leap to be not just a small local Long Island foundation," Solomou said. "We’re already impacting people worldwide, but we are ready to find the support of the whole universe. The partnership with Cohen’s is really so exciting and nerve-wracking, because now we have to show up. Now we have to put on our big girl pants. We cannot do it without the generosity of our donors."

Solomou asked that families aided by Olivia Hope Foundation share their testimonials of how the charity has helped them.

"Not that we’re not thanked enough by them, but there’s that reciprocity from the families who we help to shout out the name of the foundation so we can keep helping other families," Solomou said.

Other Olivia Hope Foundation programs include Liv's Sibs, which supports the "forgotten children": the siblings of childhood cancer patients; as well as Olivia Hope Heroes, which highlights the stories of pediatric cancer patients.