Little by Little’s ‘Rock the River’ Benefit to Raise Funds for Children with Cancer

By Anthony Birritteri, Editor-in-Chief On Jun 21, 2019

On July 27, six musical acts will take part in the all-day “Rock the River” music festival in Huddy Park, Toms River, in order to raise money for Little by Little, an organization focused on helping children – and their families – deal with brain tumor diagnoses. This 501(c)(3) was established by Mike Maguire to fulfill the wishes of his late wife Kimberly who died from glioblastoma (a type of brain cancer) in February 2017.

Maguire explains that the name of the organization stems from the phrase his wife repeated after recovering from her two brain surgeries: “Kim’s tumor was in the left temporal lobe, and she had to take neurological tests after her surgery. The doctors would ask her questions that would seem silly to you and me – such as ‘Is it daytime or nighttime?’ or ‘Are you in a hospital or in a church? – because when you have surgery like that, sometimes you don’t know. Lots of times you also lose your ability to talk or walk,” Maguire explains. “So, Kim, in order to fight the disease and get back to our children, kept on repeating the phrase ‘little by little’. … ‘I am going to walk around the hospital floor, little by little. I am going to pass my neurology tests, little by little.’ It became so frequent that even the doctors and nurses starting saying it themselves. It became our mantra.”

The idea for the 501(c)(3) came about when Kim wasn’t allowed to give a 13-year-old cancer patient a $50 gift card she had received. “The hospital explained there were privacy reasons for not doing so, but this didn’t sit well with Kim,” Maguire recalls. “She told me, ‘Wherever this disease takes me, I want to make sure you are helping children who get this disease, because this isn’t fair.’”

Eight months after Kim’s passing, Little by Little was established. To date, the organization has raised $150,000 for a dozen families, most of which are from New Jersey, but Little by Little’s reach has also stretched out to Oklahoma and even Australia.

Maguire explains that 100% of the Rock the River proceeds will go towards families in need. Tickets purchased in advance at https://www.universe.com/events/rock-the-river-tickets-toms-river-XRFC83 are $35. Tickets purchased at the event will be $40. The musical performers at the festival will include: David Cook, an American Idol winning recording artist who just finished performing in Kinky Boots! On Broadway; Cowboy Mouth; Sophia Ramos; RedRightReturn; Waiting on Mongo; and 18th & Addison. Bubby’s Beanery, a local coffee shop, and Downtown Toms River are also sponsoring the event.

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