Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
H-M-S Elementary raises $2,440 for Compete for a Cure
Students release balloons outside H-M-S Elementary last Friday at the conclusion of the school's cancer awareness event.
Janet Prins shows off a T-shirt denoting the many forms of cancer during a special assembly held last Friday afternoon.
Raising funds for research and remembering those impacted by a life-changing disease are the purposes of Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn Elementary's cancer awareness day. This year it was also an opportunity for students and staff to raise funds to support a foundation created by an H-M-S graduate who is currently battling the disease.
Donations collected in the fish tank on Friday totaled $2,440.42. During an assembly that day, event organizer Janet Prins commended students and staff for their generosity, noting the results reflected their desire to help others.
The funds will go to Compete for a Cure, a nonprofit organization created by Adam Burns and his wife, Katie, following a diagnosis of glioblastoma in his brain.
Burns is the son of Dennis and Julee Burns, of Hartley, and a 2005 graduate of H-M-S. Following his diagnosis in 2021, Adam and Katie decided to form Compete for a Cure, which assists other families also impacted by cancer and supports funding for glioblastoma and brain cancer research.
Outside the school, a balloon was released in honor of Burns. Others were released in memory of former elementary staff members Lois Eckard, Vonnie Hofman and Lorene Unrau, and staff members' loved ones who lost their lives to cancer. Students also released balloons in honor of those affected by the disease.
