Daffodil fundraiser nets more than $2,000

The Jamestown High School National Honor Society, under the supervision of Tammy Mullowney, hosted Daffodil Days 2011 to benefit the American Cancer Society. Bouquets of daffodils were sold to raise funds. The group raised $2,225. Mary Dahl, community relations manager for the ACS, said the cancer society appreciates every bouquet of daffodils purchased, and added that money raised by the event will be used to help the ACS continue funding cancer research, state and national legislative advocacy, and educational and patient service programs.

This year alone, the ACS will invest approximately $120 million in cancer research nationwide; $3.2 billion has been invested since the research program began in 1946, Dahl said

A portion of the money raised by past Daffodil Days in Stutsman County is being used to support Look Good … Feel Better, Reach to Recovery, the Patient Lodging Program and Transportation Assistance, which are well-utilized programs in the area, Dahl said. The money raised locally is also helping to fund the society’s Cancer Resource Centers. Patients and their families from Jamestown and throughout North Dakota have been visiting these centers for information and assistance following their diagnosis of cancer.

The ACS also funds scholarships for youngsters in North Dakota who have been diagnosed with cancer. Those granted the scholarships can receive up to $10,000 for their post-secondary educations. Youngsters ages 5-17, and diagnosed with cancer are eligible to attend the society’s annual Camp Goodtimes on the shores of the Spokane River, just east of Spokane, Wash. The free camp allows children with cancer to “just be kids” for one week of the year.

The ACS research program is the largest, private, not-for-profit source of funding for cancer research in the United States, second only to the federal government. Forty-two of the researchers the ACS financially supported have gone on to win the Nobel Prize.

The society’s funding has also helped play a part in every major research break-through in the past 50 years, including: the pap test, mammography, Gleevex, Tamoxifen, Herceptin, Gardacil, the first successful chemotherapy treatment for cancer, and the bone marrow transplant technique.

Tags: community, fundraiser, cancer, daffodils