As seventh graders, Lindsay Fabri, Regan Kelly, Sara Kershaw, Ashley Riter, Kiley Senfleben, Taylor Walsh and Sophie Webster lost their classmate, Ryan Reardon, to his battle with neuroblastoma. When the seven girls participated in Destination Imagination’s Community Service Challenge, a world-wide organization that encourages team building, collaborative work and creative thinking, they chose to create a campaign honoring Ryan’s memory and helping patients at the MassGeneral Hospital for Children Cancer Center.
Meeting twice a week for more than six months, the girls raised more than $3,000 through carefully planned and executed fundraising events to purchase gifts from Mass General’s “wish list” for pediatric cancer patients. They met with Mass General staff members to learn about Mass General’s pediatric cancer programs, and encountered a young girl visiting the hospital for treatment. At that moment, nominator Briana Kershaw explains, “The girls realized that if the toys they donated could put a smile on that child’s face, even for a moment, then they had already won.” The girls went on to tie for first at the state competition and went to Tennessee for a global competition where they came in eighth in the world for their division.
The project helped them honor Ryan’s spirit and compassion — he always managed to think of others even during his illness — and the girls kept his legacy alive by providing gifts for other children in need of support.”
