This post is going to be entirely about me raving about my son, Adam. So, don’t say I didn’t warn you!
At the end of his Junior year last year, Adam was elected President of the National Honor Society at his High School – Bishop Kearney. It’s a big deal just being part of the NHS but to be President, there comes a lot of responsibility and obligations. Part of that being coming up with fundraiser ideas throughout the year that the NHS can do for the community.
Over the summer Adam came to me and asked me my thoughts for October. Typically, the school likes to do something to recognize Breast Cancer Awareness Month and he is acutely in tune with my aversion to ‘pink’ and the useless ‘awareness’ campaigns that happen during October.
I immediately thought of my friend and fellow advocate, Rebecca Timlin-Scalera, founder of The Cancer Couch Foundation. I told Adam about a fantastic fundraiser that she held at her son’s school that was very successful – The Scoops Ice Cream Eating Contest. This would be the perfect event for a Middle/Jr/Sr High School. What kid doesn’t want to eat as much ice cream as possible in 5 minutes?? The idea is simple, kids form teams of 4. Each team needs to raise at LEAST $100. They can raise more but they must raise $100 to be in the contest. They have 27 days for their team to raise as much money as they can. On the day of the Scoops Challenge, teams will go against each each other until they reach the final 2. The final 2 will have one last challenge and then one Grand Prize Winner will be named. There is no selling of a product, catalogs to have people to look through. Just asking family, friends and anyone else to sponsor their team.The best part about this, aside from the ice cream, is that all the money raised would be going to The Cancer Couch Foundation which exclusively funds Metastatic Breast Cancer Research. Win – Win!
Adam got to work! He contacted Rebecca to get all the details and he then met with his adviser, Mrs. Sikora and his Principal, Mr. Simoni and eventually the Parent’s Association. Their response was unanimous – Absolutely, Yes. Adam began planning and the event began to take shape. Everyone was on board!
At the end of September, the fundraiser was announced at the kick off of Homecoming Pep Rally. I was invited to speak to the student body, tell them my story and how they would be playing a big roll in not just helping me but the 155,000 people like me living with terminal breast cancer by raising money for the Breast Cancer that kills. I explained to the kids that all that ‘pink stuff’ that they see in the stores doesn’t always mean that the money they spend will go to research or to even help anyone at all. I also had the kids actively involved in my explanation of the fact that One in Eight women will get diagnosed with Breast Cancer in their lifetime. Each student was handed a Popsicle stick as they walked into the assembly. Some of the sticks had a blue dot and some had a blue and an orange dot and the rest didn’t have any color at all. I asked those students with the both colors on their sticks to stand. Those students standing represented the “One” in One in Eight. Those students according to the statistic would be diagnosed with Breast Cancer at some point. Then I asked those students standing that just had a blue dot to continue standing and the rest to sit. Those that remained standing represented the 30% of Early Stage Breast Cancer patients that eventually become Metastatic and are now terminal.
http://13wham.com/news/local/bishop-kearney-seniors-mom-brings-breast-cancer-message-to-homecoming
http://www.rochesterfirst.com/news/local-news/bishop-kearny-launches-scoops-challenge
Adam planned, organized and worked with the other NHS students all month to make the fundraiser successful. There ended up being about 12 teams!
This past Friday the 28th was the BIG day!! 25 gallons of Ice Cream were just waiting to be eaten and Rebecca Timlin-Scalera even flew in to host the event!
I even did a short Facebook Live video as the event was beginning…….
The Drum Line was the absolute best! It may not look like much with the buckets but they really were good – they kept the energy and excitement level high!
Prizes were given out for the most scoops eaten (collectively speaking) and there was a tie between 2 teams – 46 scoops of Ice Cream eaten!! And there was a prize for the most money raised!
I’m proud to say that the students raised $2,000 for Metastatic Breast Cancer Research and they aren’t done yet – with the ice cream they have left over they are going to sell ice cream sundaes at lunch and put THAT money into the pot for a bigger donation…AND Rebecca talked Mr. Simoni into letting the students have a Blue and Orange dress down day – a Cancer Couch Dress Down Day! So, there’s THAT money as well.
I’m so proud of Adam for taking this on and doing all the work himself on top of a full load of classes and having a part time job after school. I’m also so grateful to Bishop Kearney for rallying around Adam and me and allowing Adam to do this fundraiser that benefits Metastatic Breast Cancer.
I truly hope Mr.Simoni, Mr. Miller, Mrs. Sikora and the administration know just how much it means to me – to Adam.
