Scholarship Fund
By CINDY KLINGER 
THE JOURNAL NEWS 
(Original publication: November 16, 2003)

An after-school program on Long Island is raising money for a scholarship fund in memory of a White Plains woman who taught in Yonkers. 

Susan Marshall of MPowering Kids is setting aside funds for the Miriam Tresgallo Scholarship Fund in memory of the kindergarten teacher at Family School 32 who died from stomach cancer in April at age 43. 

"We're really excited about it. The outpouring of donations was so wonderful. So many people cared about her and wanted to continue her legacy, which is a wonderful thing," Marshall said. 

Marshall, whose sister, Linda, had been Tresgallo's friend since childhood, started MPowering Kids with fourth-grade students last year in Westbury on Long Island, and hopes to expand the program to Westchester. 

What the scholarship money will be used for has yet to be determined. 

"She just lived for her boys and her family. That was what she was all about. School was just an extension of that," said Chuck Sincerbeaux, Tresgallo's husband and a fifth-grade teacher at George Washington School in White Plains. He and his wife lived in White Plains with their three sons, Jackson, 5; Ryan, 9; and Tucker, 11. 

"She sort of embodied everything that was good about teaching," said Paula Peden, a kindergarten teacher at Family School 32 who taught with Tresgallo for about 14 years. 

"Anything that's done in her memory that will enable children to be empowered, to make the most of themselves, would be a legacy that would be outstanding," Peden said.

To donate to the Miriam Tresgallo Scholarship Fund Mail checks to: MPowering Kids 161 Drexel Ave. Westbury, NY 11590 or go to www.mpoweringkids.org/Donations/index.htm For more information, call 516-876-6875.

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