By Samantha Newman-

The Caring for Cancer club at Menlo College is dedicated to fundraising, volunteering, and awareness of cancer-related issues. Founded in 2014, it is relatively new and the first of its sort to target an illness and turn it into a club at Menlo College. I decided to start a Caring for Cancer Club when I arrived at Menlo because I am a cancer survivor. When I was six years old I was diagnosed with stage IV Neuroblastoma. I was very young, so many organizations worked with my family and me. As I got older, I realized how much these organizations helped me. This inspired me to give back to them. Ronald McDonald House, Make-A-Wish, and the Amerman Family Foundation Dog Therapy Program are some of the many organizations that helped me in my time of need.

Night Vigil photo courtesy of Caring for Cancer Club

Caring for Cancer had rocky beginnings when I started it as a first-year college student. Menlo never had a club quite like mine, so it was denied initial funding. This made club events difficult. Despite the lack of funds, I pushed on and made my club as visible as possible. Some events from last year included Love Your Lungs where students could exchange their cigarettes for a shirt with a pair of lungs on it in honor of lung cancer. Another event we put on was a vigil for breast and liver cancer survivors. Our first off-campus SERV hour event was for the Stanford Ronald McDonald House.

Caring for Cancer’s latest event was a garage sale for Make-A-Wish Foundation. We raised a little over $150 by selling unwanted belongings donated by students and staff to other students and people from the community. We also had a silent auction which included wine donated by President Moran and his vineyard. The garage sale was a success and I am happy to have raised money for Make-A-Wish. I was also grateful to have so many people helping me. Miranda Curtis, the club’s Treasurer, was especially helpful in coming with me to collect donations and store things. Raven Harvey was also very helpful by donating beautiful jewelry made by her grandmother who lives on the S’Klallam Reservation in Washington.

Caring for Cancer has many different plans for the rest of the school year. We will have another garage sale in the spring semester to help students get rid of things they cannot take back with them over the summer. Another event we have planned is a Wii Sports tournament for students to compete for prizes. Be sure to look out for more club events coming soon, from fundraising to just plain fun!