From collecting pennies during its initial year to raising more than $10,000 last year, since 2001, Fernbrook Elementary School and its community have donated nearly $154,000 to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. It started when a parent volunteer, who was battling breast cancer, asked Carol Joelson to make a donation rather than reimburse her volunteer work.
Each child at Fernbrook is asked to bring home an envelope and gather donations for the Susan G. Komen Foundation before the day of the walk in late April. The students are given a plaque card to designate who they are walking for.
Joelson, Fernbrook’s volunteer coordinator, sees the importance of the walk to the community, especially after one first-grader, whose mother passed away from breast cancer, collected $5,000 in her honor.
“To still be bringing in 10, 11, 12,000 dollars—it speaks for itself,” Joelson says.“They’ve obviously been affected.”
