Wearing pink shirts with their team name “Dr. Marshall-Walker’s Warriors,” the girls of Day Hall participated in the 2012 American Cancer Society (ACS) Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk, raising $7170.31, in honor of their house counselor, Christine Marshall-Walker.
Maggie Brown ’13, a resident of Day Hall, organized Day Hall’s participation in the walk as a team to show the dorm’s support for Marshall-Walker, who was diagnosed with breast cancer during the summer and is currently undergoing preventive treatment.
Despite the cold and rainy weather, 29 members of Day Hall participated in the walk with Marshall-Walker’s children, Rachel Asher, House Counselor in Day Hall, Sue Greenberg, Instructor in English, and Lisa Joel, Associate Dean of Admission.
“Walking with [Marshall-Walker’s] kids made this event a real dorm-bonding experience. Dr. Marshall is an important part of Day Hall, and she’s always been there for us. This walk was the least we could do to show support,” said Bridget Higgins ’14.
To meet their initial team fundraising goal of $5,000, Day Hall asked family and faculty members for donations, which could be made on the ACS website, according to Brown.
Contributing to the team’s fundraising efforts, Campuses Against Cancer (CAC) organized a penny war, in which classes competed against each other to collect the most money. Julie Zhou ’13, a resident of Day Hall, also held a bake sale. Proceeds from both fundraisers totaled over $500.
“Baking was something I could do to help out. I wanted to do everything I could to show support, but at the same time it wasn’t just for Dr. Marshall. I think she’s very much an independent person, and I don’t think cancer makes her weaker in any way,” said Zhou.
“We could always be there everyday for Dr. Marshall and talk to her, but there’s other things you can do too that go beyond just talking and show a real action to try and change something. It’s our way of being more supportive than just living with her,” said Brown.
“It was a really good way for us to bond as a dorm. I feel like we really hadn’t done so yet. I think a lot of people were really passionate about the walk because [the idea of breast cancer] was really close to a lot of us. My mom had breast cancer, so trying to help fundraise money for our team was really, really fun for me,” said Sydney Adams ’14, a resident of Day Hall.
Brown said that she found out about the ACS Breast Cancer Walk in a television commercial and decided to look into it. She previously participated in a walk similar to this year’s ACS walk.
Making Strides Against Breast Cancer is ASC’s “nationwide series of walking events to raise funds and awareness to end breast cancer,” according to the organization’s website. ASC holds 270 of these walks each year.
Donations made to ACS for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk will go towards funding breast cancer research, information and services and access to mammograms, according to the organization’s website.
