This Thanksgiving, we at Wyoming Medical Center are thankful for the Kelly Walsh student council!
This summer, the council raised $34,000 for WMC Foundation’s Angel Cancer Care Program with its Trojan Trek. Last week, students helped us deliver Thanksgiving meals to 23 Casper cancer patients.
The Angels feel blessed by the partnership we have forged with these students. It started last spring when I was asked to talk to the student council about the Angels program. The students were planning their second annual Trojan Trek — a cancer awareness relay that positions walkers on the track 24 hours-a-day throughout the month of June. Walkers collect pledges, and the students wanted the money to help local cancer patients so they could see how the project impacted their community. They chose to donate their money to the Angels. The $34,000 the students and community members raised through Trojan Trek will help us provide wigs, gas cards, groceries and much more to Wyoming cancer patients.
I’m happy to say that our partnership has not ended. Last week, 17 council students helped the Angels deliver a turkey and a roasting pan filled with Thanksgiving fixings to 23 cancer patients across Casper. Students chatted with patients, checked in on them and made sure that they did not need anything else.
That’s what our Angels do. They are the wings of cancer patients while they go through their treatment so they can focus on getting better.
Fundraising is a talent that the students of Kelly Walsh possess and something they do a lot of for many organizations here in Casper. The partnership with the Angels is one that brings joy according to student Roy Cady-Kimble. Usually, the students just see the monetary side of it – delivering checks to the groups they are helping. But delivering the Thanksgiving meals let them interact with real people who benefitted from the students’ hard work, he said.
Delivering meals is just one way that the student council has impacted the Angels program and the patients we serve. But it is an experience that I hope they hold onto as they make their way in this world. Their smiles and youthful energy bring hope to many. They bring joy and encouragement.
This partnership is one that brings gratitude to the Angels. At this time of Thanksgiving, we are thankful that they believe so unrestrainedly in what the Angels do. We are thankful for youth who want to give back, who want to be the good that they see in the world.
About the angels
The Wyoming Medical Center Foundation’s Angels Cancer Care program serves hundreds of Wyoming cancer patients every year offering emotional support and financial assistance with wigs, gas cards, transportation and more. To learn more or to make a donation, call (307) 577-4355 or visit our website.
For more on this story, read Elysia Conner’s article in the Casper Journal.
Jillian Riddle is the volunteer coordinator for Wyoming Medical Center and the Angels Cancer Care coordinator with the Wyoming Medical Center Foundation. She is a native of North Carolina with a love for the outdoors. She has one daughter, Princess Petunia Pants, and an awesome husband.
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