Yesterday at Benedictine Military School, Phin helped to present a giant check to the nonprofit organization CURE Childhood Cancer.
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Students at Benedictine Military School and Phin present CURE Childhood Cancer with a check. |
The giant check represented Benedictine's remarkable fundraising efforts and the magnanimity of those in its community. Phin was thrilled to help with presenting it. In the photo, he is smiling, held aloft by his buddy Joseph, a student at Benedictine, whom he last saw on the football field.
Taking part in this event was an honor for both of us. But I was curious as to what it meant to five-year-old Phin, who doesn’t really understand the concept of regular-size checks yet, or, for that matter, money.
As we were leaving the building, I asked him what he thought had just happened.
“I gave away the money and they took pictures,” Phin said.
“Nailed it!” I said. “Do you know what that money is for?”
Phin’s grasp on this point was less firm, but that is understandable. After all, the money was for CURE, and it is difficult to describe all the ways that CURE supports families of kids with cancer.
CURE provides funds for expenses that families incur while their children are receiving treatment. It connects parents and siblings with counseling professionals. It delivers meals to patients’ rooms multiple times per week. CURE’s representatives were among the first people we met when Phin entered the hospital after he was diagnosed with AML, and they were some of the last faces we saw when he left.
“But I don’t have to be in the hospital now,” Phin said.
“High five for that!” I said. “But the whole time that you were, they were there for us and for every other kid who had cancer in that whole place. And CURE is still there helping the kids who didn’t get to go home like you did. That’s why CURE needs that money–to help all the kids who get cancer and have to go to the hospital after you.”
He seemed to understand that–a huge relief to me, since it meant that I could keep it together and leave unspoken the part I was going to say next, which was, “And Phin, if you ever have to go back to the hospital, CURE will be there to help us again.”
Here's a link to Phin’s CURE page: https://bit.ly/3TJiN2R
If you’d like to send CURE something to help it to continue doing this important work, I can assure you it will be put to good use.
