Every Kid a Hero

Katelyn Cinnamon is a senior at West Des Moines Valley High School. She started project Every Kid a Hero and has raised over $4,000 for children affected by cancer. Below is her guest blog. Donate to Katelyn's Campaign by visiting http://philanthropig.com/ChildrensCancerConnection/EveryKidaHero

My name is Katelyn and I’m currently a senior at Valley High School. In addition to my fundraising this year, I’m also involved in Best Buddies and I play tennis in the spring. I love to read, but two of the things I love most are being around kids and volunteering!

I have always had an interest in childhood cancer, and have found the kids and their families to be a source of great inspiration. My project stemmed from my experiences I have had shadowing in the clinic with Dr. Woods, whom I met two years ago as a requirement for a research project. Never would I have guessed I’d be where I’m am today because of that particular project.

 I first heard of Children’s Cancer Connection through Dr. Woods when she said I should volunteer at camp and that I would love it. I looked into the organization more and loved everything about it (and couldn’t wait for camp!) It wasn’t until a few weeks later that I had this bright idea and set my ambitious goal to raise $10,000 for childhood cancer and to truly make a difference in these kids’ lives. 

Once I had the idea I couldn’t shake it and it was literally all I could think about. I knew I wanted to split my goal between the clinic and the Children’s Cancer Connection. I talked to the social workers at Blank and decided that I would use a portion of the funds raised to purchase 6 iPads for the clinic so they could have one in each room and so the kids could always look forward to using their favorite toy every time they came to the clinic. The other half of my project is sending about 20 kids to camp and to send those attending for their first year with a backpack of general camp items to get them excited for camp! And as a little side project on top of all this is collecting fleece tie blankets for the Children’s Cancer Connection.

Once I started to get going, I asked my friend Casey Drake, who shares the same passion as I, to help. Together, every day we get closer and closer to our goal. In the mere 5 months since we started, we have raised nearly $4,000 and donated 21 blankets. We have had a tremendous amount of help and working beside those of the Iowa Health Foundation and Children’s Cancer Connection has been an incredible experience. We also have some great help coming from a couple of DMU students, Jen Lommel and Meghan Young. Our goal for this project is to raise $10,000, but we want to do more than that; we want to get as many people involved as we can to truly make it a community effort and to raise awareness for childhood cancer.

I have absolutely loved every aspect of our project; but the greatest part has been meeting so many great people and seeing the direct impact of what we’re doing. It’s honestly one of the greatest feelings. Without all the help from friends, family, and teachers, we would not have reached the level of success we have already reached.

My plans after graduation are undecided at this point. It is my hope to attend University of Missouri—Kansas City as a part of the 6 year combined BA/MD program. But until April 1^st, I will be waiting anxiously! But no matter where I end up, I will continue to do all I can for those battling childhood cancer!