Local Students Raise Money for Cancer

It’s a fairly new program at , but one that has seen its number consistently grow.

The idea of the Best Buddies program is to connect students at the other high school with other students who have disabilities. According to the Winchester faculty adviser of the program, John Fleming, it gives students a chance to create a relationship with other student who they might not have met without the program.

The organization gets together once a month – whether it’s mini golf, rock climbing or laser tag – students in the organization always try and find something to do. Last month’s activity had a slightly different twist.

Class officers, junior Seamus Cassidy and seniors, Garrett Dagle and Tiffany Chan, organized and ran a basketball tournament to raise money for Pennies for Patients.

“It’s pretty special to see them do something like this,” Fleming said. “They were at lunch everyday trying to get teams to sign up. It’s really impressive what they were able to accomplish.”

In the end, there were 19 teams that raised over $2,300 for Pennies for Patients. The money raised during the fundraiser goes to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

“The idea is that every penny counts,” Fleming said. “Whatever you give, it doesn’t matter. And these kids worked extremely hard to raise that money.”

The team of George Levene, Cam O'Malley, and David King beat Gary Grassey, Dennis Clarke and Derek Weitz. Last year's winners of the Hoops for Haiti tournament Caleb Unni, Brandon Farquharson, Greg Thompson and Josh Rodriguez lost in the semifinals. Lucia Ristorante in downtown Winchester donated a gift certificate to the winning team. Best Buddies is hoping that this will be an annual event.

“The kids really took advantage of this opportunity,” Fleming said.

Money can still be donated in Winchester High School's name by going to  the school's site and clicking on 'Find a School' to get to the WHS page.