By Jack Ryan
Thursday after Thursday after Thursday, senior Dylan Cessna would always hear from Grace, a former lunch lady at Prospect, tell him how good his band was, and that listening to it was the highlight of her day. After many weeks of hearing kind words from Grace, Cessna heard the words that many people do not believe.
Grace told Cessna she was diagnosed with breast cancer and that she would be leaving Prospect due to the disease. Cessna knew he could not just sit by and let the disease try to overcome her.
Cessna teamed up with school psychologist Jay Kyp-Johnson and created the Band-Aid Fundraiser as a result to raise money for the American Cancer Society and patients like Grace. Cessna, his band and other musically inclined students at Prospect performed at the fundraiser, and they raised $600.
“We have so many talented students [at Prospect], and as much as we try to meet everyone’s needs, sometimes we can’t, [so] it’s great when someone can step up and create something [like the fundraiser],” Kyp-Johnson said.
The two decided to host the fundraiser again this year on Oct. 14 8-10 pm in the theatre. There will be between five and six acts performing three or four songs.
Unlike last year’s fundraiser, this year’s Band-Aid will raise money for Feed My Starving Children, a non-for-profit organization that focuses on hunger across the world.
“Over the summer this year, I didn’t have a job, and my mother did not like me being around the house to much, so she sent me out to go do something,” Cessna said. “So I went around and did 15 rounds of food packing for Feed My Starving Children, and before you start packing, they give you this talk about how much you’re actually helping, and how one quarter feeds a kid for a day, and $50 feeds a kid for a year. So it was just like, ‘Wow, that’s such a small amount of money for such a big impact.’”
Cessna hopes to raise $800 to $1,000 this year because he knows what he is doing is good for the community. He also wants the fundraiser to run more smoothly. Last year, there were problems with what order people were suppose to perform in.
When Cessna went up to Kyp-Johnson about fundraising for this charity organization, Kyp-Johnson let Cessna take control and is now helping Cessna get everything ready to go for the fundraiser.
Though the fundraiser is raising money for a different cause this year, Cessna and Kyp-Johnson have similar motivation to last year. They still want the fundraiser to raise more money, have well performed acts and to help people in need.
“The first [fundraiser] with Grace was more of a personal thing since she had always talked to me, and I wanted to help her out,” Cessna said. “This [fundraiser] is just finding another place to donate that will be worth while.”