The annual campus-wide Walk for Cancer event at Portsmouth Abbey School has raised $3,000 for the American Cancer Society. This year, the Walk for Cancer club worked with student leaders from various clubs on campus, hosting small events throughout the course of the month.
The first event was a paid-admission Coffeehouse event with the help of the music department. Mr. Jeff Kerr set up a speaker system that allowed ten performers to give amazing performances that raised $150. Next, the Asian American Student Union (AASU) put together a food sale for the dorms after study hall. Head of the club Soren Jarabello '18 contacted a family sponsor who donated about six hundred lumpia, a Filipino take on a Vietnamese spring roll, right from the Philippines. $250 was raised from the resale, with the additional benefit of educating the student body on Filipino cuisine. On the Friday before the walk Madison Knudson '20 and faculty members donated hundreds of baked goods that Walk for Cancer participants resold after assembly. That same day was a School-wide dress down day, earning a total of $1,000.
During the walk, the Women's' Rights Club, led by Katie Ritchie '19 and Virginia Hagerty '19, sold pink lemonade for our charity while raising awareness about breast cancer. The walk drew in a crowd of students, faculty, alumni, current parents, and parents of alumni. Their donations, along with the School-wide events, raised the total $3,000.
"Although we raised a high amount, our main goal was to provide a service to get kids involved in working towards a cause greater than themselves, and to give clubs projects," James Brower '19 says. "The process encouraged collaboration and allowed kids to express their musical talents, cultures, beliefs, and culinary skills all while helping cancer research."
The American Cancer Society works to find cures and methods to fight cancer as well as provide financial assistance to families struggling with debt from hospital bills stemming from cancer. To learn more, please visit their website.