Brunswick High School students aim to raise $75,000 for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

BRUNSWICK — A group of 15 Brunswick High School students is hoping to raise $75,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society over the next seven weeks. Brunswick City Schools Community Relations Coordinator Dawn Allar said the group is participating in the LLS Student Visionaries of the Year program in which students raise money and awareness for blood cancers. "It's a fundraising project, but what I love about it is it helps develop empathy in students," she said. Brunswick's team is called "Brunswick for a Brighter Future," and they will be competing against other teams nationwide to see who can raise the most money for LLS, team leader Maggie Romano said. The funding will go toward cancer research as well as education. "Along the way, we develop leadership skills such as how to approach and partner with businesses and organizations in the community, speak in public and work together as a team to plan a successful campaign," she said. Team member Sebastian Morales said his mother was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in spring 2022, and she received a bone marrow transplant later that year. He began participating in the student visionaries program last year to help people who are in a similar situation. "With the research that LLS has provided up, we had an opportunity for my mom to get a cure and be healed," he said. Another team member, Mick McGinnis, was diagnosed with B-cell leukemia in January 2021. "I will win this fight," he said. Last year's team set a goal of raising $25,000 and ended up raising more than $53,000, Romano said. Her brother was the team leader of last year's campaign. "Our goal this year is to build off that and to raise $75,000," she said. "We know it's a lot of money. We know it's a lofty goal, but we do have full confidence that we can do it." Beyond Juicery + Eatery's Brunswick location will be giving customers the option to round up their change in order to donate to the campaign, Romano said. The team has also met with other local businesses like Dairy Queen and organizations like Velosano to discuss the campaign. "It's so easy to look at those statistics and look at cancer and feel like it's so big and hopeless that there's nothing we can do against it," she said. "LLS and student visionaries is now our way to do something about it and know that we are taking steps to protect our families, to protect our community (and) to protect our friends." Fundraising will end on March 8. To make a donation, visit tinyurl.com/2wmssspa. "We are incredibly proud of everyone that was here today, and everything that you do to represent our school district and our community with pride and with class," Allar said. Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at (330) 721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.