9-year-old brings Christmas cheer to hospital bound children

Rebecca Klar
Rosario Cascio decided to buy toys for kids in the hospital. His idea has spawned a fundraiser, Rosario's Giving Tree, that has received over 100 toys. (Photo by courtesy of Lilliana Cascio)

It’s a tradition for the Cascio family boys to write letters to Santa the night before Thanksgiving.

This year, as Lilliana Cascio was cooking dinner, she said her eldest son Rosario told her he wasn’t going to ask for much.

“The less I ask for the more Santa can give to other kids,” Lilliana recalls her son telling her.

Lilliana said she told her son that’s okay, and went back to cooking.

A few minutes later, he came back with another idea.

Lilliana said Rosario asked if he could go through some of his toys in the basement to donate.

“I was excited because I wanted to get rid of some of the clutter,” she said.

But the 9-year-old came up with yet another plan to help give back to children.

Rosario told his mom it must be sad for the kids in the hospital who can’t wake up in their own homes Christmas morning to see what Santa brought them.

“I started getting goosebumps,” she said.

The Cascio’s living room is filled with toys donated by family, friends, and friends of friends.
(Photo courtesy of Lilliana Cascio)

Rosario asked his mom if he could buy those kids toys to bring them, Lilliana said.

Rosario’s idea, now a fundraiser named Rosario’s Giving Tree, has spread to hundreds of toys being delivered to the Cascio’s Dix Hills home and a gofundme page that raised almost $300 in less than a day.

Lilliana first reached out to family members, then friends, to see who would donate. The fundraiser spread even more when she posted on Facebook.

Lilliana said her living room is now filled with toys. Her friends have explained the idea to their kids, who are now equally excited to buy toys to donate, she said.

“That’s what makes it beautiful,” Lilliana said. “My son is getting other kids to also think about giving.”

The Cascios are donating toys to NYU Winthrop Hospital on Dec. 22. Lilliana said they’ve received more donations than they expected, with more rolling in every day. They’re also donating to South Nassau Communities Hospital on Dec. 23, and are looking into adding another hospital to donate to.

While Lilliana is more than willing to help her son by sharing on social media and driving to pick up gifts, she said she made it clear that he has to put in the work, too. She told Rosario he can’t just come up with the idea and then watch her do all the work.

But Rosario, along with his two brothers, 6-year-old Charlie and 3-year-old Anthony, are actively helping with the process. The boys brought in garbage bags full of toys filling Lilliana’s car the other day when they came home from school, she said.

Even Rosario’s youngest brother is in the spirit of giving.

“[He] doesn’t say ‘this is mine, this is mine,'” Lilliana said. “They were laughing … they never say ‘I want this, that’s not fair.'”

Rosario said seeing all the donations come in makes him feel amazing.

The other day, Lilliana was at a bakery in Queens with her friends, surrounded by toys they had bought that day for the fundraiser. Two women walked in and started laughing, she said.

“You did some shopping today,'” Lilliana recalls the women said.

She told them about the fundraiser and one of the women started to cry.

The woman was a nurse who works with children with cancer. Lilliana said the nurse pulled $20 from her pocket, hugged Lilliana and said, “I work with these children every day and I see the pain in the families’ eyes, the pain in the parents’ eyes.”

While it won’t make their problems go away, Lilliana recalls the nurse saying, it will make them feel good that another child is thinking of them.

Lilliana said she’s proud of her son. Most adults don’t even think to do this, and at a time of year when most 9-year-olds are thinking about themselves, Rosario is trying to cheer up those who need it most.

Anyone interested in donating can reach out to Lilliana through the Facebook page Rosario’s Giving Tree, or visit the gofundmepage.

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