This Christmas, Boyle’s Linda Saunders decided to teach her grandson how to give by starting a campaign for the teen room at the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton.
“I thought ‘How can I give?’ and I wanted it to be for a cancer cause. I ended up talking to somebody at the Stollery and they said they had a teen room and it was for kids 12 to 17 and it’s crafts, it’s movies, it’s games to occupy their time while their getting treatment,” said Saunders.
Cancer is a cause that’s close to her heart as it runs in her family and she, herself, has stage four cancer. Therefore, she knows first-hand just how boring treatment can be.
“Last year in the spring, I was given six weeks of radiation and the treatment was three minutes. So, you’re there for 15 minutes and you have 23 hours and 45 minutes left of your day with nothing to do.”
If it was difficult for her, she couldn’t imagine how much more difficult it would be for a teenager.
“Teens (...) should be out doing things. They should be worrying about getting a boyfriend, they shouldn’t be worrying about are they going to make it. That’s a lot of time for a teenager to have to find something to do,” she said.
Her campaign lasted nine days and raised $1,000 in iTunes and Google Play cards, as well as items ranging from DVDs to manicure sets for the teenagers – some of which were wrapped to give to them for Christmas. Most of the donations were from Slave Lake, where Saunders works.
“It was really cool actually, because when people think of cancer or terminally ill children, they think of the little guys,” she said, “but I think my cause is going to be for the teen room.”
This isn’t the end of the campaign. She plans to continue it year round, this time making sure to canvas both Athabasca and Boyle as well as Slave Lake.
“I hope to canvas this area, because the people around here are very generous and I know that because when I was given the first treatment, there was nothing that anybody wouldn’t do for me. It’s too bad I didn’t think of it sooner,” she explained.
She also hopes that her grandson, when he’s older, will continue with the campaign.
“Now is the time we have to teach the young kids how to give. Because they’re so used to taking because we give them everything,” she said. “It’s a thing I want to start and I want him to continue.”
Any who wish to help with this cause are asked to contact Linda Saunders by text at 780-689-1117.
