Michael Grillo, a New York State Court Clerk who faced cancer before age 30, and often visited the children's ward as a patient at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, founded Kids Against Cancer in 1983. His one-man crusade to provide holiday spirit to children confined to the hospital due to their battle with cancer.

Now president of the organization with larger ambitions, his long term goal is to investigate the opportunity of providing the required care to these children in a setting that would not be associated with their illness. As a result of the passionate interest of a diverse group of individuals and organizations in accomplishing this goal, formation of an organizational struture and plan has been set forth toward its attainment.