Coins help cancer foundation

[Arizona Coin Collector]

FROM:
http://www.mydesert.com/article/20090115/NEWS04/901140360/1010/news04

Coins help cancer foundation

Aldrich M. Tan
The Indio Sun
Palm Springs, California
January 15, 2009

Students from Amelia Earhart Elementary School have raised
$600 for the Variety of the Desert, a children's nonprofit
agency.

The money has been used to purchase a 12-passenger van for
the Candlelighters Early Childhood Cancer Foundation of
the Inland Empire.

Candlelighters uses the Sunshine Coach to transport
children with cancer to the hospital for treatments and to
other activities, executive director Armida Kersey said.

The agency plans to use the van for the first time during
an event in February, Kersey said.

Variety of the Desert presented the van to Candlelighters
on Dec. 7 during a Bike Giveaway celebration at Palm
Springs Motors, said Amy Bohrmann, executive administrator
for Variety of the Desert.

The group donated a van to Candlelighters nine years ago,
but it is no longer functional, Bohrmann said.

Courtlyn O'Grady, 10, a member of the Earhart student
council, said she has relatives who use the program and
she saw the original bus.

"It was completely run down and the engine barely started,"
she said.

The Amelia Earhart students chose to raise money for the
Sunshine Coach as part of their annual November
fundraising project.

Each year, the students decide on a fundraiser to work on
in November, said Cindy Stern, fifth-grade teacher and
student council adviser.

The student council voted on the Sunshine Coach project
and set a goal of $500, Stern said. By the first week of
December, the council collected $600.

Bailey Levine, 10, said it was an eye opening experience.

"We are luckier than other people and we need to be
grateful for that," she said.

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