By Risha Rohera
Theme Editor
Cancer has the power to take lives and alter the lives of a family forever. After Rebecca Waxman, sophomore Rachel Waxman’s sister was diagnosed with leukemia eight years ago, Rachel was inspired to inform, educate and impact children who are currently diagnosed.
Sophomores Waxman and Kelly Geiser founded the Heroes for Hope Club this past November. This club supports the Jonathan Jaques Children’s Cancer Center at Miller Children’s Hospital in Long Beach.
“My sister was diagnosed with cancer eight years ago [and survived], and this is the hospital that treated her,” Waxman said. “[Jonathan Jaques] is the organization that supports [this] hospital. Kelly and I were both really inspired by that.”
Sixteen year-old old Jonathan Jaques inspired the Jonathan Jaques Children’s Cancer Center in 1976. During his battle with cancer, he gave his parents his life savings and asked them to help other children in the future. The Center named after him was established in 1983 at the Miller Children’s Hospital.
“Jonathan Jaques is a really wonderful organization that [not only] supports children undergoing cancer procedures, but enables them to go about their daily lives safely and comfortably,” sophomore club member Jordan Cohn said. “It provides them with incredible services, such as dental, dietitians, specialty nurses, clean rides to and from appointments, therapeutic groups and other supportive resources.”
The club’s main objective is to raise money for the children in treatment at the Center. Club members held a bake sale on Dec. 9 at the 24th Annual Manhattan Beach Holiday Fireworks show to raise money for the Jonathan Jacques Cancer Center.
“Heroes for Hope is a really rewarding experience with the philanthropy going to kids who are extremely deserving of it,” sophomore club member Oliver Gable said. “I’m very excited to be involved with this new club. It is a really great cause and a wonderful organization.”
The club also facilitated a toy drive, which began in the beginning of December and will end today. The toys collected will be wrapped in bundles and given directly to the kids in the hospital during the holidays in spirit of the festive season.
“We would like to get toys for children of all ages,” Rachel Waxman said. “However, we would especially like to get them for kids our age since not many people [know about them], and they are there in the hospital.”
The club also plans on sponsoring a diagnosed child to run in the 2013 Champions Run for Life. The run raises money to support various programs at the Center. These programs include the Psychosocial, Art Therapy and Late Effects programs, and help cancer patients and their families cope with their battles with cancer.
“Our main goal as a club is to raise enough money, which is about $1,500, so we can sponsor a kid to run with us [in the Champions Run for Life],” Geiser said. “They have a run every year in June. We hope to have a positive influence on the child’s life by having them compete in the run.”
The first Heroes for Hope meeting occurred on Nov. 28. During meetings, the club plans volunteering opportunities at the hospital as well as ways to raise funds for the sick children.
“We just had our first meeting, and we had a really big turnout,” Geiser said. “We were surprised and had about 25 people.”
The club did not participate in the Club Day that recently took place on Dec. 5 but plans on participating in future campus club days. The club hopes to raise even more money for the cancer center. Heroes for Hope meets every Wednesday at lunch in room 28.
“Cancer is a really horrible thing, so anything we, as a club on campus, could do to help children who are currently diagnosed with cancer, we wanted to do,” Waxman said.
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