Junior Kendall Stoughton has been involved in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS)’s Student Visionaries program for several years. Through this program, she has been working to support and raise funds for the LLS, a foundation that works to fund groundbreaking research and provide free support services for patients and families. LLS works hard to give blood cancer patients and survivors more time.
“My inspiration to begin raising money for Leukemia is numerous things and individuals connected,” said Stoughton. “My younger cousin was diagnosed with Leukemia a couple of years ago. Thankfully, she is now in remission and doing well. My ability to view the way her nurses interacted with her has inspired me to desire a career in the medical field dealing with other children diagnosed with cancer. Multiple other family members of mine have been affected by cancer including my grandmother, two of my great uncles, and my late great aunt. Having the chance to help other families in need and save lives across the country is truly a blessing and I could not pass up the chance to participate in this campaign.”
Stoughton’s main method of fundraising comes from sending letters to potential donors. “Letter writing brings in 25% of our donations,” said Stoughton. “My team and I worked very hard to create a contact tracker full of names and addresses to send out to people for donations! I have also sent out multiple emails and have made personal asks benefitting my campaign. Further, I have reached out to multiple businesses for sponsorships and other donations!”
Stoughton plans to continue raising money for the LLS in the future.
“In the future, I plan on securing more sponsorships along with a few dine to donate nights at different restaurants to gather more donations,” says Stoughton.
“Raising money for this society and having the chance of saving lives, or just changing them, makes me feel so immensely special,” said Stoughton. “The chance to truly make a change in the world is so memorable for me and it makes me feel good to help others. I want to make an impact in the best way possible for as many patients as possible and by participating in this campaign I get the chance to do just that.”
