Cystic fibrosis fundraisers: Inspiring a community

• The Geckos

“The Geckos” (Sully Tikkanen, Lucas Stadler, Ero Wallin, Riley Tiboni and Timmy Perfetto) ready themselves for action during a dodge ball fundraiser Jan. 24, at William Kelley High School. The event raised money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Photo: Michelle Ketola
• Team NHS

Team NHS, made up of Lucas Small, Jonah Koehler, Kari Smerud, Danielle Weber and Nicole Weber, the featured speaker who lives with cystic fibrosis, won the tournament. Photo by: Michelle Ketola
• Cooper Olson

Cooper Olson hogs the dodge balls after the tournament is over. Photo by: Michelle Ketola

Talk about it

Each year, the National Honor Society in Silver Bay chooses a foundation it would like to support by holding a fundraiser dinner and an event (typically a dodge ball tournament) in which the community can participate. This year, the annual Chili & Baked Potato Dinner was held on Jan. 18. Despite the poor weather conditions on the evening of the event, a generous number of community members still ventured out in support of our fundraiser. This year, we decided our fundraiser would benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Cystic fibrosis is an inherited disease which affects a person’s lungs and digestive system. Nearly 30,000 children and adults in this country (70,000 worldwide) are affected by the disease. It is far from easy living with cystic fibrosis throughout a lifetime. A defective gene and its protein product cause the body to produce abnormally thick, sticky mucus which clog the lungs and lead to life-threatening infections, obstructions in the pancreas and a halt to natural enzymes that help the body break down and absorb food they way it should.

On Thursday, Jan. 24, the National Honor Society was proud to have a very courageous and inspirational speaker join us as part of our annual Dodge Ball Tournament held in the WKHS Gym. Guest speaker Nicole Weber, a seventh grader from Duluth living with the laborious disease, was eager to be a part of our event and share her courageous story. This brave speaker captured the hearts of everyone in the audience that evening. She has been the talk of the halls at William Kelley over the past week, with students commenting on how she showcased such a great-spirited, sweet and strong personality while living with cystic fibrosis.

After briefly sharing her story with the audience, Nicole and her sister joined the NHS dodge ball team to compete. NHS member Jonah Koehler, one of the players on the team, said, “I knew after hearing her speak that we needed to win for her!” Nicole’s team walked away as the grand champions for the night.

The Silver Bay NHS would like to thank Nicole and her family for coming and sharing her story with our community. A big thank you also goes out to all who supported, donated, played and cheered at the tournament. It is greatly appreciated and we were thrilled at the amount we raised as a community for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation! It was a fun evening of events, supporting a great cause!

Tags: silver bay, education, schools, fundraiser