Though New Canaan High School juniors Eva Alexander, Sienna de Kanter and Mairead Greiner all joined the NCHS Students Against Cancer Club last fall for individual reasons, they share a deeply important motivation: Each of the teens has loved ones whose lives have been altered by or lost to the disease.
L-R: Sienna de Kanter, Mairead Greiner and Eva Alexander
Eva Alexander’s father, Sloan Alexander, had surgery last March following discovery of a sarcoma, and is now undergoing chemotherapy. De Kanter’s grandmother, Linda Glenn, died last March following a battle with colon cancer. And Greiner, whose grandfather Joseph Casey is a two-time cancer survivor (colon and prostate), has two grandmothers currently fighting skin cancer.
Through the club, the students found out about the “Student Visionaries of the Year” program run by Blood Cancer United, a nonprofit organization that seeks to rid the world of blood cancer.
The NCHS Students Against Cancer Club, L-R: Clare Fields, Victoria Vaccaro, Sophia La Magna, Sienna de Kanter, Eva Alexander, Mairead Greiner, Scarlett Stewart and Bea Merritt.
Together with a handful of fellow NCHS club members—including Clare Fields, Victoria Vaccaro, Sophia La Magna, Eva La Magna, Bridget de Kanter, Bea Merritt and Charlotte Lee—the trio created “New Canaan For a Cure” (here on Instagram), a team that is seeking to raise $50,000 over the next seven weeks under the Student Visionaries program.
The clock starts running at midnight on Thursday, Feb. 5.
“I’m nervous, but also excited,” Greiner said on the eve of the campaign’s launch. “I’m very much anticipating everything that this campaign is going to bring and I’m definitely excited for it, but it’s also nervous anticipation.”
The team’s plans include a March 20 concert benefit at the Carriage Barn in Waveny, a silent auction, fundraising outside Zumbach’s coffee shop and several “10% nights” where local businesses donate a portion of profits to the cause.
QR Code for the “New Canaan for a Cure” team’s newsletter
“Mainly we’re going to be having a newsletter and we’ll reach out with peer-to-peer asks for donations,” Eva Alexander said. (See the QR Code at right to sign up for the free newsletter.)
The group is particularly excited to raise money for Blood Cancer United because, Eva Alexander said, 70% of cancer treatments are actually found through blood cancer research—treatments for all types of cancer. Her own father, Sloan Alexander, is undergoing treatment now with a drug discovered through blood cancer research.
“I’m hoping that, primarily, we can help blood cancer patients and help with research, but I think that a big part of Blood Cancer United’s mission is just advocacy and getting the cause to be known,” Eva Alexander said. “So hopefully we can inspire people to know about this cause and this organization so that they can continue to donate and participate even after the seven weeks of our campaign.”
QR code linked to the “New Canaan for a Cure” donation page
De Kanter said the advocacy and education is especially important because “a lot of people don’t realize how many people in the United States and also around the world are impacted by blood cancer.” (See QR Code at left for the team’s donation page.)
She noted that leukemia is the most common form of cancer found in children.
“So just spreading more awareness around our community about that in general will also be a big part of our campaign,” de Kanter said.
The team is also seeking corporate sponsorships for an advertisement book that will be featured at a grand finale event for the Student Visionaries program in March, and has secured $2,000 for that already.
“It’s not super easy, but it definitely feels worthwhile because it’s not just sending a bunch of emails,” Eva Alexander said of the prep for the campaign, which included working over Christmas break. “You have to show up in person and make a commitment to being entrepreneurial yourself.”
De Kanter urged community members to consider how much of an impact their involvement will make.
“Know that it’s not like just a donation,” she said. “They [supporters] will actually be directly touching the lives of someone, because the research and the patient support and everything that Blood Cancer United gives these people makes a huge difference for the families and the patients that are currently undergoing treatment and being impacted by cancer.”
Sloan Alexander views himself a beneficiary of the organization’s work as he continues to undergo treatment.
“I’m inspired by their commitment to this cause at such a young age, that they’re organizing a fairly large and ambitious goal in a short period of time,” he said of the team’s efforts. “They are impressive in terms of what they’ve done already. And I think it’s going to be a successful campaign. I’m happy to be involved in this because it’s bringing us closer together. I think, for me, the buildup to the March 20th event will be really fun.”