A Dollar to Fight Cancer

BY MARIA MIRAKAJ BROWNSELL

All it takes is a dollar for a kid to make a difference.

Arielle Joselson and Seri Roth, local high school students, have been helping kids make that difference with their organization A Dollar Campaign.

A Dollar Campaign was created in January 2012 through their hard work and dedication to fund pediatric cancer research. “We wanted to create a charity that would make it easy for kids to donate to. We also want to send the message of how far one dollar can go, and that every dollar counts,” explained Roth. “If every person in the world donated just one dollar, imagine how much money we would raise to fund pediatric cancer research. We are not stopping until a cure has been found.”

Roth is interested in business and helping children, so after meeting Joselson who had experience raising money for pediatric cancer with her mom, the girls decided to work together. The girls feel that during this tough economic time, asking for a humble dollar from every person, they can make a difference in treatment, care, and ultimately a cure.

As teenagers, creating their own charity wasn’t the easiest task. They need to juggle school, personal lives, and homework every day before they can work on charity business. To Roth and Joselson it is all worth it. “Creating A Dollar Campaign, was such an amazing experience, and extremely rewarding. It is an amazing feeling to know that we are making a difference in the lives of children who are suffering from cancer,” Joselson said.

“Since creating ADC we have come across numerous children and teenagers who have told us that we have inspired them that kids can make difference, so they decided to create charities of their own,” Roth said. “We would love to create a chain reaction of giving. Our idea of creating a chain reaction of giving means that once one person starts making a difference, than the chain of goodness will continue to spread to more and more people. Our hope is that eventually, people all around the world will give back to their community and help others.”

The girls have been taking part in many different events including, Kids are Heroes, A Kids Dance Party, and the Hoboken Fair. At the fairs, the girls try to meet other teens and tell them about their mission to battle cancer. They want to inspire other kids to get involved in causes they believe in and show them that no matter how old they are, they can make a difference. They helped to sponsor a hot cocoa stand in Scarsdale, which was the 6th annual fundraiser for two young boys.

“Our upcoming event will be on June 8. The event will he held at a candy store. There will be tastings of delicious treats, face painting, raffles, and specially priced Belgian Chocolate Pretzels. A day of fun that you won’t want to miss!” said Joselson.

Some of the hospitals where A Dollar Campaign’s money goes to are New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Stephen D. Hassenfeld Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at NYU Langone Medical Center, The Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York, and Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital at Westchester Medical Center. They are part of the Pediatric Cancer Foundation.

Donations can be mailed to A Dollar Campaign, P.O.Box 409, Pomona, NY 10970. To find out more information or to donate online: www.adollarcampaign.org.

  a dollar campaign, cancer fundraising, fight cancer, pediatric cancer