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Young fundraisers set the bar high
for their Relay for Life team effort.
I
Stacy Gittleman
Contributing Writer
T
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2016680
hey may have called them-
selves the Purple Monkeys,
but when it came to raising
money for this year's local Relay for Life
for the American Cancer Society on June
6 at West Bloomfield High School, this
team of rising sixth-grade girls from West
Hills Middle School was not monkeying
around.
Through an active fundraising
campaign, a lemonade stand and a
cupcake-making competition, the team
raised $18,184.63 — the fourth largest
amount out of 43 local teams. In total,
the West Bloomfield Relay For Life
raised $239,079.26 for patient support,
cancer prevention education and on-
going research efforts in the fight against
cancer. For this accomplishment, the
local event received the organizatioris
Pacesetter Award for a second year in a
row for surpassing its fundraising goals.
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Purple Monkeys team members
Abby Chayet, Ave Usher, Alexa
Shepherd and Rachel Thav
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Throughout the country, the American
Cancer Society holds these community
events on the track of a local high school.
Teams and individuals work for months
to raise money prior to the relay. In a car-
nival-like atmosphere that includes food,
games and entertainment, the teams take
turns walking laps throughout the day or
the evening to show their support for any
of those who have fought, survived or
cared for anyone who is battling or who
has battled cancer.
In the most moving lap of the event,
loved ones remembering those who have
died from cancer walk around the track
lit by luminary candles.
Leading the Purple Monkeys to
their fundraising victory was Sammi
Desmond, 10, a student at West Hills
Middle School and Temple Israel's reli-
gious school. Now in her second year
heading up a Relay for Life team, she
has inspired friends to join her in rais-
ing money for cancer research by asking
friends and family for donations over
social media, a neighborhood lemonade
The Purple Monkeys team at the
recent Relay for Life event.
stand and a cupcake competition mod-
eled after the popular television show
Cupcake Wars.
Complete with celebrity judges, includ-
ing one of the owners of Taste Love
Cupcakes of Royal Oak and Andy Gignac,
associate principal of West Hills Middle
School, participants paid $20 to enter
their recipe in the competition. After the
winner was determined, the team sold
the cupcakes at a school bake sale. The
Purple Monkeys also received corporate
sponsorships from local companies such
as the Sample Warehouse, Usher Oil
Company, American Allstars Athletic
Center and others.
One of Sammi's fellow Purple Monkeys
was Alexa Shepherd, 11, of West
Bloomfield, also a student at West Hills
and Temple Israel. The biggest earner
on the team, Shepherd solicited more
than $4,000 by writing letters to friends
and family and reaching out to others on
social media.
According to Melissa Shepherd, Alexis
mother, the reason why so many of her
daughter's peers are so passionate about
raising money for cancer research is that
they have all known someone who has
or is battling cancer. One girl participat-
ing on the team has a mother currently
undergoing chemotherapy. Alexis grand-
father Edward Kaplan of Farmington
Hills is a six-year survivor of bladder
cancer. Her great-uncle Harry Lebovitz
of Farmington Hills died from cancer at
age 70 — just two weeks before the June
relay.
"My father was diagnosed with cancer
when Alexa was just 4 years old, so ever
since she could remember, she has seen
what her grandfather had to endure
as he coped with living with cancer;
said Shepherd, 38. "I think Alexa is so
inspired to raise money because she sees
that instead of her grandfather needing
to go for a checkup every three months
he now only needs to go once a year. She
sees that this is possible thanks to all the
advances in cancer treatment, and this
happens when people even as young as
she is raise money for research:"
❑