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Left to right Leah Dawson, Olivia Gauthier, Amberly Auger, Tori Gravelle, Carlie Pappano. Photos provided.
Little 5-year-old Amberly Auger has leukemia which means she has to travel to Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) in Ottawa for treatment, so four of her schoolmates, peers at that, decided to take charge and do something to make the fight less stressful and decided bracelets were the answer.
Leah Dawson, Olivia Gauthier, Tori Gravelle, Carlie Pappano put their passion and ingenuity to work to make bracelets and then sell them at ET Carmichael school as well as selling them to family, friends and team mates outside of school.
“Tori wanted to make the bracelets like she did last year and thought of Amberly and people like her that have cancer,” explains Tori’s mom Tammy Gravelle who helped organize the fundraiser.
“Tori had foot surgery 2 years ago at CHEO and she knows how amazing everyone is there and that they go above and beyond medical treatment to make all kids feel better no matter what they are going through. So after talking with the girls they decided to sell the bracelets at school and donate the money to CHEO on behalf of Amberly.”
“They worked hard making posters and bracelets. They set a goal of $200 and far surpassed it. Tori was thrilled to give the money to Amberly with the girls and just to see the smile on Amberly’s face was all she wanted!”
“Amberly’s mom and dad Lori and Paul and sister Ashlyn were also there and all very proud of the girls,” adds Gravelle.
“Then they got to play with Amberly and Ashlyn and just be kids running around! She wishes there was no cancer.”
Pappano says she was inspired by We Day and wants to do something to make a difference in the world.
“I wanted to do it because I want help with research to find a cure for cancer.”
“It made me feel good to give Amberly the money to bring it to CHEO. She was so cute and just seemed like a normal little girl that just wanted to have fun! We played and laughed and had a blast while visiting her,” says Pappano.
“I enjoyed making bracelets because I knew it was going to a good cause and I knew how happy Amberly was when we gave her the money to take to CHEO with her,” notes Dawson.
At the end of a month and a half of designing and selling The girls were very pleased to donate $322.99 for Amberly’s CHEO treatment.
