Friends Of Mercy Raises $100,000

Honoree Gerry Oakes, Director of the Nassau/Suffolk Chapter of Swim Across America (left), receives commemorative plaque from Friends of Mercy's Donald Regan.

The Friends of Mercy Medical Center raised more than $100,000 at the 41st annual Gentlemen's St. Patrick's Dinner on Thursday, March 15th at the Hempstead Golf and Country Club. Some 230 people attended the black-tie affair which honored Gerry Oakes of Garden City, Director of the Nassau/Suffolk Chapter of Swim Across America which has raised more than $1 million to support Mercy's "M.I.R.A.C.L.E." Pavilion, home to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Nassau County.

The event also included the presentation of the proceeds of The Friends' 2006 fund-raising activities, with Alan Dr. Guerci, M.D., Mercy's president and CEO, receiving a check for $375,000.

Co-Chairmen of this year's event were Kevin Laurie and Francis Darcy of Rockville Centre and Jeffrey Mulhall of Garden City, who energetically support both The Friends and numerous other community activities.

The Friends of Mercy was founded in 1935 as an organization of men dedicated to volunteering their time and efforts to raise funds for the construction of the new Hospital and advancement of medical and surgical care for the patients of Mercy Medical Center. The group sponsors several fund-raising events each year, including a Golf Outing in September and The Mercy Ball in December. In the past two years, the Friends have raised over $700,000 which supported a new radiology suite in hospital's Express Emergency Care Center, and for the new North Pavilion which opened last year.

Rockville Centre mayor Eugene J. Murray (left) greets Monsignor Francis J. Caldwell, pastor of the Church of St. Martha's in Uniondale, and Rabbi Barry Dov Schwartz of Temple B'nai Sholom in Rockville Centre.

(L-R) Mercy Medical Center president and CEO Alan Guerci, M.D. looks on as Hempstead Town Senior Councilman Anthony Santino presents Certificate of Recognition to honoree Gerry Oakes, Director of the Nassau/Suffolk Chapter of Swim Across America. Joining in congratulations is Rockville Centre mayor Eugene J. Murray. Friends of Mercy Medical Center 2007 president Stephen McLoughlin (left) shares the stage with Gentlemen's St. Patrick's Dinner co-chairmen Kevin Laurie and Francis Darcy. Mercy Medical Center president and CEO Alan D. Guerci, M.D. (center) flanked by (L-R) honoree Gerry Oakes, Director of the Nassau/Suffolk Chapter of Swim Across America; Gentlemen's St. Patrick's Dinner co-chairman Jeffrey Mulhall; MMC Director of Internal Medicine John Reilly, M.D.; and Friends of Mercy Medical Center past-president William Forman, M.D. Lorey Pollack, M.D., Friends of Mercy Medical Center 2006 president (right) presents the $375,000 proceeds of the group's 2006 fund-raising efforts to Mercy Medical Center president and CEO Alan D. Guerci, M.D.