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Saturday, December 8th was our fundraiser for the Ty Louis Campbell Foundation at Anthony's 151 Grill in Mahopac.
After two months of planning, organizing and collecting raffle donations it all came together better then I could have dreamed of. We had dozens of various raffle items ranging from hair salon gift certificates to a catered Superbowl package including a 32-inch television to 100 gallons of home heating fuel!
Then of course the people that generously donated their time to make the event fun for the entire family included: Lauren Michaels hair salon doing gold hair extensions to raise awareness, Franco Aureliani (a famous comic book writer/artist from DC Comics) who did sketches of the kids as Super Hero's, Kelly Torres body painter who did amazing face painting, Jason Gisser who was at the event from start to finish brightening the room with his acoustic soul music, Mellissa Divitto was selling Ty t-shirts and Ty Christmas ornaments, the staff of Anthony's 151 Grill donated their time and of course the numerous friends and family of the Anthony family that donated their time helping with parking and raffles.
This event was intended to raise money for the Ty Louis Campbell Foundation and help find a cure for pediatric cancer. Also to raise awareness. I don't think people realize how common childhood cancer is. 1 in 300 children will have cancer before the age of 20! Following Ty's story the past year and a half is what made me realize how common this disease is and to see how many families suffer. Having two children of my own, I cannot imagine the pain the Campbell family has to bare everyday with the loss of their beautiful boy.
The people and businesses of our surrounding communities is what helped make this event so successful. I am proud to announce that we exceeded our goal of $5000 with a grand total of over $6000. This is only the beginning, we need to make pediatric cancer as well recognized as breast cancer. We need to see that these poor children do not suffer. Think about the strides we have made with breast cancer in the past 10 years, the success rate has risen and the pink ribbon is something we all recognize. We also need to recognize the gold ribbon in September for pediatric cancer month and raise awareness. Success comes in numbers and together we can beat this disease.
Thank you to everyone who attended the event, the volunteers and for those who could not make it but found it in their heart to mail a donation. To make a donation or read about Ty's story www.Superty.org.
-Tonya Anthony
