Fund-raising Archive
Recipe for Fund-raising
Janet Nelson of Laurel Highlands, Pa., and her daughters, Julie and Bailey, often come together in the kitchen, creating delicious baked goods, trying out new recipes, and taste-testing their creations, of course.
They stirred their passion for cooking into a fund-raising campaign for lupus research this past spring when 12-year-old Bailey organized a bake sale at Laurel Highlands Middle School for World Lupus Day. The sixth-grader was inspired in her efforts by her 18-year-old sister's battle with a still-unidentified autoimmune disorder that mimmicks lupus and her mother's struggles with fibromyalgia and osteoporosis. An aunt and a neighbor also suffer from lupus.
"She worked hard," Janet says of Bailey. "She worked well past midnight prepping for this thing."
And they pulled the whole thing off in 36 hours, baking cookies, cupcakes, and an elaborate cake that alone drew $125 in raffle proceeds. They also made T-shirts and sold 50 Blue Jeans for Lupus buttons. All told, they made $600. "We would have made more, "Janet says, "But we ran out of cookies!"
Dancing for Dollars
Kelly McCaffrey of Beaver, Pa., remembers when hope was running out for her mother, Sue Summers, stricken with the debilitating symptoms of a disease her doctor could not diagnose. And she remembers how all of that changed when her mother came to the Lupus Center of Excellence and was finally diagnosed with the devastating autoimmune disorder that afflicts some 1.5 million Americans.
"Dr. Kao saved my mother's life,"Ms. McCaffrey says of Amy Kao, MD, one of six rheumatologists at the Center.
The family's gratitude lives on today, as Ms. McCaffrey injects some sun into winter by organizing annual Saturday Night Summer Time Oldies Dances to benefit research at the Center. "I do this because I remember them being there for her, and I want to say thank you," she says. "And I want other people to know about the Center."
With the right diagnosis and appropriate treatment, Ms. Summers is back to living life again, with no active signs of the disease. Her daughter says that the relationships she's made at the Center also aided in her mother's recovery. "The kindness and care they have shown her has been amazing," Ms. McCaffrey says. "They do not treat her like a patient. They treat her like a family member."
Sweet Senior Project
Sara Wolbert, a senior at North Clarion High School in Clarion, Pa., has been inspired by her mother's struggles with lupus and the care she's received at the Lupus Center of Excellence. So inspired that she decided to raise money for lupus research as her senior project.
Sara sold candy bars at a festival in Tionesta and held a basket raffle at her school volleyball games. Her efforts raised $500 for lupus research. In addition to those dollars, Sara also raised awareness by designing and distributing a lupus pamphlet to those who bought candy and entered the raffle.
She says the project has taught her the power of generosity and also built her own self-confidence. No one, she says, is prouder than her mom.
Contact Information
E-mail luceinfo@pitt.edu or call 412-648-9413 for more information about how you can get involved and make a difference.
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