This Saturday is Creston’s annual Crush Cancer in Every Color event, a fundraiser put on by Greater Regional Health that benefits the hospital’s Infusion and Oncology Center. Whether working towards a cure or providing care and comfort for cancer patients, any event working against the horrible disease is worthwhile.
I’ve spoken extensively about my grandmother, who we lost to Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma when I was just a toddler, in previous columns. Today I’d like to take a look at the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS), a nonprofit I had the honor of being involved with in high school.
The LLS mission is to “cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.” According to their website, they’ve invested about $1.7 billion in cancer research since 1949.
When I was a senior in high school, one of my biology teachers approached me about the opportunity to participate in the Student of the Year competition with the LLS, now known as Student Visionaries of the Year. I was hesitant at first, as I knew it would be a big time-filler, but I ended up agreeing. I knew it would be worthwhile.
This student program is a seven-week journey of high school students raising money through fundraisers and lobbying for sponsorships, competing against other students in their region. It usually culminates in a final banquet where items are auctioned off to raise more money, students are honored for their work and the winner of the competition is announced.
During my seven weeks, I focused more on events and programs at my school, since my school took students from various area towns, while the other students went to area public schools. Working with my school, I raised more than $5,000.
We held a bake sale, but most exciting for the students was a paid comfy day. As we had a generally strict dress code, students could pay $3 for an LLS wristband, which gave them multiple days in which they could wear sweatpants and slides. Near the end of the time period, I also hosted a movie night, where members of various churches came to watch “The Princess Bride.”
Many of the other students raised a similar amount of money, with one or two raising much larger amounts. Between all of us, we raised $121,783, an insane amount. While I obviously couldn’t lay claim to most of it, I was proud of the little part I did contribute.
As much money as that is, it’s not close to how much some people have raised. This year, the students who raised the most were a pair of fourteen-year-olds from L.A., raising an incredible $650,000. The amount that much money can do to help people is unspeakable.
This is not the only fundraising event LLS puts together. There are adult versions of the competition, a walk called Light the Night and more. Cancer patients and survivors are also honored at many of these events. Sawyer England, a young cancer survivor I had the honor to write about for today’s newspaper tab, was celebrated as the LLS Lower Plains Region Boy of the Year in June 2022.
Cancer is one of those diseases that seems too immense to do anything, like taking a glass of water out of an ocean. However, even if a full cure isn’t found, helping individuals through their difficult journeys is worth all the work and money.
While there are many ways to help in this battle against cancer, the Crush Cancer in Every Color event this Saturday is a great way to start. Held at McKinley Park, the day starts with a vendor fair and disc golf tournament at 10 a.m. The day continues with a car show, Cruise for a Cure, a bags and bocce ball tournament, survivor events and recognition and a glow run/walk. The night ends with the luminary ceremony at 9 p.m. Throughout the day, a number of food trucks will be available for food.