Juniors Bella Dumler, Emily Stove and Kynley Verdict are involved in the LLS program, which provides financial aid to blood cancer patients.
Juniors participate in special community service opportunity for cancer research
The LLS program, which provides financial aid to blood cancer patients to improve their life in some way, has helped juniors Bella Dumler, Emily Stove and Kynley Verdict learn the significance of doing their part
For junior Bella Dumler, creating her own community service project served a more personal reason than just getting service hours for NHS or college applications. Dumler and her younger sister, freshman Lola Dumler, created Team Repeat, a team made up of students and parents, to run for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Student Visionaries of the year.
The girls set out to raise $50,000 for cancer research during the seven-week period starting Tuesday, Jan 10 to Friday, Mar 3. Team Repeat ended up runner-up, raising close to $48,000 through planned events such as silent auctions, Super Bowl squares, pickleball tournaments, bingo cards and friends’ generous donations.
At a young age, the Dumler’s mom got diagnosed with Lymphoma in 2013 and relapsed in 2014. This long and difficult time in her life inspired her to help those in similar situations.
“We decided to run for LLS Student Visionaries of the year because we saw cancer, specifically Lymphoma, personally affect our family,” Dumler said. “Our mom ran for LLS Woman of the Year in 2017 and Lola and I were fascinated with the goal our mom was able to reach.”
Junior Emily Stove, also involved in Team Repeat, loved seeing participation from the community during the fundraisers.
“My favorite thing about being part of the team is the events,” Stove said. “The pickleball tournament was so much fun even though my teammate and I didn’t make it far. It was just fun to see everyone there supporting a good cause.”
Similar to Stove, junior Kynley Verdict said she joined the team to do what she could to give back.
“I personally know a couple of people that have been affected by cancer and I want to do my part to try and find a cure for it,” Verdict said.
Team members like Stove and Verdict helped to spread the word of the campaign through social media.
“We help promote the campaign by word of mouth and we try to repost the Instagram account as much as we can,” Stove said. “We also try to go to as many events as we can to encourage attendance.”
Additionally, Verdict loved being a part of Team Repeat because she liked to participate in fun events while supporting a good cause.
“My favorite part of the campaign was helping and participating in events because I love setting up for them and doing something exciting to help support a good cause,” Verdict said.
Overall, Dumler enjoyed watching the community participate in the different fundraisers to help them reach their goal.
“So far my favorite part is seeing all of the support we have gotten because this wouldn’t be possible without the community we are in,” Dumler said. “It’s amazing to see how many people care about making a change and finding a cure for cancer.”