Fundraising Archives

Jan 13 2021

Ashlyn Mercier – Miss Gold Coast 2021

Miss Gold Coast is a part of the Miss Connecticut Scholarship Organization, Inc. – supporting the advancement of women in society by embracing diversity, education and civic action. The organization invests in the women of Connecticut to further their education and provides a platform to propel their futures. I will be competing in the Miss Connecticut competition this April! I am beyond excited to embark on this journey and am so grateful to have this opportunity. Throughout this year, I will be working with organizations that help bring positivity into the lives of children battling critical illnesses. Like my Facebook page to follow me along on my journey and the road to Miss Connecticut, as well as my impact with Nick’s Courage: One Smile Goes a Mile.

My brother Nicholas was only two years old when he received his Leukemia diagnosis, the next four years of his life he battled harder than anyone I know. Nick showed my entire family and me what it meant to be truly courageous and to be a hero. Battling pediatric cancer is hard on so many levels; it takes away a part of your childhood that you can never get back. For these kids it replaces what is supposed to be youth sports and playground fun with surgeries, prescriptions, and hospital rooms.

Why Me was there for Nick, to bring fun and lighthearted events back into his life. Through their Family Fun events, Nick got the opportunity to play and have fun like a kid again. For me as a sibling, I got to meet other families and siblings of children with childhood cancer which served as a beautiful reminder that Nick and my family were never alone in his fight. Nick and I’s favorite event to attend through Why Me was Spree Day. Every year we got to go to the 200 Sportsmen’s Club and compete in activities such as fishing, archery, and shooting BB guns. This event brought out my family’s competitive side and brought so much laughter and joy into our lives. The most magical event though is the Holiday Party, which was an event we had the opportunity to attend every year around Christmas time. What blew me away the most as a child and still to this day, is that every single child, including siblings that attended the Holiday Party received a Christmas gift. It brought so much joy to everyone there.

As Miss Gold Coast 2021, I want to give back to Why Me for all of the joy they have brought into my family’s life and all the joy they continue to bring into the lives of others. Through my social impact initiative, as part of the Miss America organization, Nick’s Courage: One Smile Goes a Mile; I will be hosting a series of raffles on my Facebook page. I hope that you will consider purchasing raffle tickets as all the money will be donated directly to Why Me. If you are not interested in purchasing raffle tickets, you can donate directly to Why Me’s website. Thank you so much for your kindness and generosity.

Sincerely,

Ashlyn Mercier

Miss Gold Coast 2021

Jul 15 2020

35th Anniversary

This August marks our 35th anniversary of providing support services to children with cancer and their families. Over those years, we have helped nearly 700 families and that number continues to grow. This year has been challenging as our nation and the world cope with the Covid-pandemic; this is no exception at Why Me. We have adapted and overcome adversities in ways that we never thought necessary pre-pandemic. We have delivered pantry and essential items to families, provided bags of “summer fun” to help bring a few extra smiles, helped pay bills, and taken our support groups virtual – because childhood cancer is isolating enough without a quarantined pandemic. In June, we hosted a virtual trivia night and a drive-in movie night – both of which felt oddly “normal” in such unprecedented times. These are just a few examples of how we have continued to help lighten the load of our families in crisis. Throughout our 35-year history, we have persevered to put our best foot forward providing support and comfort to families battling childhood cancer – all with the help from our generous community.

During the early years of the organization, our founder and chairman of the board, Terry Shepherd, once said “If we could get by on love alone we would have no problems.” How true that statement is today, decades later. Since mid-March, all of our fundraisers through 2020 have been postponed or cancelled. This weighs heavily on us, as they are a large source of revenue for the organization. To replace this critical lost revenue we are launching this virtual 35th Anniversary Fundraiser to acknowledge and celebrate all that Why Me has been able to accomplish since 1985. Our community has helped sustain our mission over the last 35 years and we are once again asking you to stand up, through this pandemic, with us. Childhood cancer does not stop, nor do we.

If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation online please click the button below. Checks may also be mailed to us at:

Why Me, 35th anniversary
1152 Pleasant Street
Worcester, MA 01602

Thank you for believing in us; we are all in this together.

May 21 2019

Patrick Subaru Shares the Love for Why Me

Patrick Subaru of Shrewsbury went above and beyond with the 2018 Share the Love event. Each winter participating Subaru dealerships across America “Share the Love” by donating a portion of sales to a local charity. Why Me was chosen as one of two charities for Patrick Subaru support this year, raising a record $40,738.

“We were so excited to partner with Why Me & Sherry’s House for our annual Share the Love event, because they are a truly important and reputable charity.” said Michelle Bourget, Marketing Coordinator at Patrick Subaru. “I personally didn’t realize how vast the volume of ways that Why Me helped families was, nor the amount of thoughtfulness they put into making sure that these children and their families are taken care of in as many ways as possible.”

In addition to the financial donation, staff of Patrick Subaru have been donating their time. Service department staff came to the house to help with this year’s annual appeal. While at Sherry’s House helping stuff our annual mass mailing they noticed that there was not a television in the game room and decided to donate one. Their thought was that if this is a game room for teens there needed to be a television to play video games on or watch sports while playing pool.

Employees have been sprucing up the play room with new paper cranes and brightening the outside with colorful planted flowers. Bourget went on to say “Working with the staff at Why Me has been a true pleasure. They are thoughtful, kind and genuine. All of us at Patrick Subaru are looking forward to a continued friendship with these wonderful people!”

We are thankful for the support we have received from Patrick Subaru, they continue to go the extra mile for Why Me.

Aug 13 2018

The Road to Falmouth Road Race 2018

In just under a week, on August 19th, in the heat of the summer 6 runners will be running the Falmouth Road Race for Why Me & Sherry’s House. Sponsored by New Balance, the race is one of the showcase events in distance running and woven into the fabric of summer on Cape Cod, like Fourth of July fireworks and Labor Day weekend cookouts. Each Why Me runner was asked to fundraise a minimum of $1,000 to help support our programming. If you would like to help our runners reach their goals click here to donate and write the name of the runner in the comments section.

Deb and Erica: Deb and Erica are the mother/daughter duo of the Why Me team. They have run the Falmouth Road Race for the last 3 years but their involvement with us began long before that, over 12 years ago.

When my daughter Erica was 12 years old, she selected Why Me for a community service project. We came in for an initial tour and were so impressed and moved by what we saw and heard that Erica wanted to start volunteering that day! She began shortly thereafter – helping to clean and neaten Sherry’s House to provide a comfortable and sanitary setting for the children and their families.

We cannot begin to fathom the magnitude of emotions and physical, financial and logistical effects that a childhood cancer has on a child and their family. However, from our exposure to Why Me, we have come to understand and appreciate the range of services and the amount of caring, love, community support and financial assistance that they provide to families battling a childhood cancer.

This is our 4th year running the Falmouth Road Race for the Why Me team. We will be thinking about the children and their families as we run the 7.1 miles from Woods Hole to Falmouth. We imagine that the strength and determination we will exert on race day is what the children and their families must put forth every single day. The support of our donors has always been the wind at our backs, easing our efforts; we hope that their generosity also helps lighten the burden – at least a little bit – for the children and families who are supported by Why Me.

Emily: My name is Emily and I am a resident of Shrewsbury, Ma. I am a fourth grade elementary school teacher. The reason why I am running for Why Me is because back in high school I was able to see firsthand the great things that Why Me does for families with children battling cancer. I had to do volunteer hours for a class and decided to give my time to Why Me organizing the food pantry. When I was done I was allowed to go outside and play with the children. Every single child had a smile on their face and I enjoyed every time I got to go and volunteer. Why Me is a fantastic organization that looks to help others. When I noticed they were on the list of charity teams I reached out right away. I have wanted a reason to get back into running and what better way to do it then running the Falmouth Road Race for a great cause. I have started training and will be ready for August 19th!

Jeremy: I am fortunate to have chosen a profession in life science research field where I am able to work on developing new technologies that enable advances in discovery and development of new treatments and therapies for cancer. The cancer research community has made significant progress in understanding the basis of tumor development and progression and while I remain steadfast in my belief that these discoveries will translate into new and safer treatments, I want to help families who are facing the battle with cancer today. I am running for the Why Me & Sherry’s House in memory of friends and love ones who have provided inspiration to me and my family.

Kim: I work for Whittier Rehab Hospital as a Clinical Liaison and too often I see the emotional, financial and physical stress an illness can bring to patients and their families. I am running for a charity that I know will help ease that stress and the money I raise will help Why Me to continue to help and support these children and their families.

Michelle: Hi! I am Michelle and I am running the Falmouth Road Race for Why Me. I love running and what better way to help support this wonderful organization?! I believe in what Why Me does and stands for. I run because the money I raise will help them continue helping families.