Marilyn C. Miller spent her entire life changing children’s life in the Syracuse City School District. When she passed away she wanted to make a donation to continue to impact children’s lives at the Upstate Children’s Hospital.
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Sydney: When all is said and done, most people only hope to have lived a life where you made a difference.
For Marilyn Miller her impact lives on in the lives of children and their caregivers when she was here and long after she passed.
Marilyn Miller spent her entire career changing the lives of children working in the Syracuse City School District.
After Miller sadly passed away in 2021. The Upstate Foundation received a $600,000 legacy gift from the Miller estate to the Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital in honor of her parents Frieda and Morris.
The donations did not stop there as there was another $1.7 million dollars gifted to the hospital from the estate of Miller.
Allison Della Penna who works with pediatric burn patients describes the buzz around the hospital from the donation.
It is Marilyn’s caring spirit that lives on in people such as Allison who is paying her gift forward to other children.
While Allison and Marylin may never meet, they both fulfill the same dream…making a child’s life a little better than before.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Often in life people hope to leave the world better than they found it. One woman not only left life better than how she found it but she continues to have her light shine through the hard times of families at Upstate Children’s Hospital.
Marilyn C. Miller spent her entire career working in the Syracuse City School District. It was within those four walls of a school that she felt she could make her greatest impact on children. An impact that would outlast even herself, as her spirit now lives through others from patients to caregivers.
When the day came for someone to look after Miller for a change, they learned one of her last wishes. The wish was to donate $600,000 dollars in her legacy to the Upstate Children’s Hospital in honor of her parents, Frieda and Morris Miller.
The donation would only be the beginning of Miller’s legacy as her estate just provided another life-changing difference. An extra 1.7 million dollars was donated to the hospital but this time in honor of Marilyn herself.
While Miller may not walk the halls of the hospital her mission lives on in the ones who do.
Allison Della Penna has spent the past five years at Upstate Children’s Hospital and currently serves patients with pediatric burns.
“We support families through the really hard days but then we are also there on the very best days where they be happy and excited to be discharged,” said Allison.
While Della Penna and Miller may never meet, they both live a life fulfilling the same dream. To make a child’s life a little better than what it was before.