“As a former teacher, I love working with students,” said CURE Vice President, Mandy Garola. “In 2020 we decided to form a teen council to give students an opportunity to get involved in the work that CURE does in South Georgia.”
The purpose of CURE Crew Teen Council is to offer high school juniors and seniors in the Savannah and South Georgia area the opportunity to support CURE through fundraising, volunteering, advocacy, and awareness of pediatric cancer. The 40 students on this year’s CURE Crew worked hard over the past twelve months. Here is a list of their accomplishments:
- Sold 418 gold mailbox bows/flags
- Secured 5 new business partners during childhood cancer awareness month
- Planned and executed 6 gold-out athletic games and events in September
- Planned and executed 3 dress down days benefiting CURE
- Volunteered at 6 annual CURE events
- Delivered Holiday Angel gifts to 12 local families that would have otherwise struggled to provide gifts for their children this year
- Helped execute our 1st Holiday Family Drive-In Movie dressed as Who’s from Whoville
- Secured 4 event business sponsorships and over a dozen auction items
- Sold dozens of raffle tickets
- Poured many glasses of tea and water at our Catie’s Gathering events in Savannah and Effingham
- Established CURE Clubs at 2 local high schools
- Worked with school groups to collect donations and assemble bags for patients
- In addition they’ve created birthday and end of chemo posters, donated Halloween door decorations, Valentine’s Candy, and made valentines day cards for patients
“After our 2020 Patient Family Drive-Thru Holiday Party was fully executed with the help of CURE Crew students as volunteers, I officially proclaimed that students are better volunteers than adults,” shared Mandy. “I’m not sure if it’s that I was more comfortable telling them what to do or if they were more used to taking orders, but they were amazing and have been ever since.”
Here is a list of the 2021-2022 CURE Crew:
Kalin Bostic
Banks Bradley
Christian Brown
Clara Coppock
Annalin Crawford
Gracie Daters
Thomas Davidson
Colin Dragon
Madeline Drew
Kinsey English
Katherine Ezelle
Mya Felser
Cecilia Frey
John Thomas Gard
Cade Garola
Claire Hayes
Landyn Hildebrandt
Layla Hill
Haley Hiltzheimer
Grace Mahfet
Rylee Mills
Grace Nilson
Chloe Paulick
Zachary PInyan
Anslee Poppell
Jaslyn Price
Cheyenne Ryan
Reese Ritchie
Nicole Sakuma
Colson Slaughter
Harden Smallwood
Matthew Smith
William Smith
Joseph Stoever
Charlton Strong
Bryce Thomas
Gianni Valoze
Andrew Wadley
Jordan Washington
Olivia Wells
“It’s been our pleasure to work with these students,” said Mandy. “I hope they’ve learned some things about childhood cancer, compassion, fundraising, and serving others from this experience.”
CURE Crew is accepting applications for the 2022-23 school year through May 15th. Rising juniors and seniors may apply by clicking the button below.
