Anchors for Solemn Relay Tradition to Feed Those in Need in Mahopac
In an effort to contribute to two causes that are near and dear to her heart – helping to find a cure for cancer and helping homeless cats and dogs – Mahopac Middle School eighth-grader Kaitlyn MacNeil began a fund-raising drive that will provide a service to this year’s Mahopac Relay for Life and to the many cats and dogs housed in local animal shelters.
To-date, 13-year-old Kaitlyn has collected 1,822 cans of cat and dog food, and tuna for humans, that will be wrapped in aluminum foil and used to anchor the luminaria bags that will loop the track at Mahopac High School during the lap of Relay, to be held on Friday June 2 to Saturday June 3, to honor cancer survivors and remember lost loved ones.
Afterward, the cans will be collected and donated to animal shelters and local food banks.
Kaitlyn collected the cans with the help of family, friends and neighbors, as well as by standing outside of local grocery stores to ask entering customers if they would purchase some cans to donate while they were doing their shopping.
Approaching people she didn’t know for donations wasn’t easy for Kaitlyn, she said, but she was driven by the intention behind her pitch.
“My grandmother died of cancer…it’s a benefit to help find a cure for cancer and to help animals,” she said, adding that her family fosters kittens at their home for a local rescue organization. “That motivated me.”
In addition to the mountain of cans Kaitlyn has collected, she also has rung up just under $400 in cash donations that will be used to purchase more food and the aluminum foil to wrap them for Relay.
During a collection on Mother’s Day, when she stood outside of a local grocery store with her younger sister Molly, who is a sixth-grader at Mahopac Middle School, and her mom Kim, one gentleman handed her a $50 donation.
“There are so many nice people out there who are willing to help,” her mom Kim said, noting how quickly Kaitlyn had accumulated donations. “I’m very proud of her. She just started this two weeks ago and she’s going full-steam ahead.”
And there are more people who have stepped forward to help upon learning what Kaitlyn was trying to accomplish. Neighbor Pam Lawrence donated five cases of pet food and the Barbagallo family who lives nearby threw in another 100 cans. Family friend Sandra Santos put the word out on a social networking site, drawing in donations from as far away as Queens, and helping Kaitlyn obtain a $100 gift certificate from the ShopRite in Cortlandt Manor.
Carefully wrapping each of those cans won’t happen in a snap, but Kaitlyn has an army of volunteers ready to help.
“The whole neighborhood has said, ‘We are here to help’,” her mom Kim said. “They’ve all said we are coming to the ‘Foil Party.’ “
Through this drive, Kaitlyn hopes to earn her Girl Scout Cadette Service Award for Troop 1119 and her younger sisters Mikayla and Colleen, with the help of their fellow Girls Scouts from Troop 1597 and Troop1120, are going to help with the foil-wrapping, too.
Community members who would like to donate canned pet food and tuna to Kaitlyn’s drive are invited to bring donations by Thursday, June 1 to a drop-box inside of the Baldwin Place Animal Hospital located at21 Miller Road in Mahopac.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.
