Ohio High School Cheerleaders Deliver Joy to Young Patients Battling Cancer With a Special Gesture

Besides high-spirited cheers and colorful pompoms, there lies a heartwarming tale about the cheerleading team of the Lake Catholic High School. The cheerleaders have come together to raise donations for a charitable cause.

Through a fundraising campaign, the team has taken the initiative  to raise funds to benefit children suffering from cancer. The raised amount has been delivered to the Angie Fowler Adolescent & Young Adult Cancer Institute. 

Charitable effort from the cheerleading team enriches lives 

The fundraising efforts started on September 22 during a homecoming football game when the cheerleaders took initiatives to collect donations at the stadium entrance and alumni tailgate. On another home soccer and volleyball match between Notre Dame and Cathedral Latin, donations were collected.

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It was during this match that the Lake Catholic volleyball team urged everyone to make contributions refraining from the customary 50/50 drawing.

A junior cheerleader from the Lake Catholic, Izzy Trem shared her views with the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, “We want to make it an annual thing, raise even more money next year and bring the toys to the kids again. Hopefully it’ll help them have a positive attitude going into their treatments because they have something to look forward to instead of it being such a negative place for them.”

Their efforts were bounteous as the team succeeded in accumulating a notable amount of $4,400 in an attempt to help the children undergoing treatment at the University Hospital Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital. 

A personal connection of Lake Catholic director

UH Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital is known for its best pediatric care. The charitable effort took into action under Dr Marlene R. Miller who works at the hospital and is a Lake Catholic High School alumni. Besides, it is Lake Catholic’s director of advancement, Carla Ronnebaum who holds a connection with the fundraising cause. 

Ronnebaum can closely associate with the children suffering from cancer since her daughter, Clare, was diagnosed with brain cancer five years ago. Since then, Ronnebaum channeled the cheerleading team into this noble campaign during September, Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

The raised money is used for the purchase of items to assist the children with more comfortable visits to the hospitals such as distracting them with toys, crayons, coloring books, Play-Doh. 

Ronnebaum shared his satisfaction with the success of the campaign, “I am filled with gratitude to the cheerleaders who are bringing light into a dark situation. The crafts and toys my daughter plays with when visiting Rainbow Babies & Children Hospital bring her so much joy. And now hundreds more children will get to experience this same joy because of the generosity of the Lake Catholic community.”   

The contributions retrieved from the campaign serve as vehicles of joy to make it easy for the young warriors fighting their battle against cancer. Furthermore, the initiative showcases how even the smallest contributions from the community can have monumental impacts. 

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