Hello, thank you for visiting my fundraising page, and welcome!

I am Clio Gourevitch, a Junior at Bard High School Early College Queens (BHSECQ), and I have been nominated to run for Student of the Year. Student of the Year is a 7 week competition in which teams of high school students accross the New York City area compete to raise the most money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS). I am running this team, which is called the Elimination Incorporation, along with two fellow students at BHSECQ: Arundhuty Mondal (Junior), and Aurora Donohue (Sophomore).

I would greatly appreciate it if you joined me in supporting LLS by making a donation to my fundraising campaign. By donating to LLS, you support the many facets of LLS’s mission work from investing in groundbreaking research, providing education and support to patients, and advocating at the state and federal level for legislation to help those living with cancer. Each dollar donated to LLS brings us closer to our goal to end blood cancer and makes an impact for cancer patients and their families.

As we are currently living through a global pandemic, you may find yourself asking why donate to cancer research instead of just COVID-19 related charities. My answer for you is that although these charities are a vital cause, this is just as necessary. If you are having a difficult time adjusting to these unprecedented times, living at home and fearing the virus at every turn, you are just experiencing a fraction of the daily struggles of someone living with blood cancer. Because of their compromised immune systems, they have to be extra careful during even the normalist of times, and so now, they are even more in danger of catching the virus than the rest of us. Additionally, the worry of contracting the coronavirus at a hospital could have delayed treatments or, if treatments went on, could have increased the likelihood of a cancer patient getting COVID. Because of this, cancer patients and charities such as this one need help more than ever.

Another aspect of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society that I am especially passionate about is their dedication to finding a specifically pediatric cure for blood cancers. If you walk into a drug store and go to the medicine aisle, you will likely find many adult medicines, but you will also find their pediatric counterparts right next to them. However, for cancer patients, there is no pediatric option. At the moment, children with blood cancer are simply given smaller doses of the adult treatments and cures, yet this is not ideal because it can lead to complications down the line, including several chronic health conditions. Because of this, LLS has created a children's initiative that is conducting research into a specific cure for childhood cancer. If my team raises over $50,000, we will be able to choose an initiative to donate the money we raised, and I want you to help us reach that goal.

Please help my team and me reach our goal of $70,000 by making a donation to this page, sharing this page with as many people as you can, and continuing to read my email updates throughout the campaign. With your help, my team and I will push to support LLS in their pursuit of a world without cancer.

Thank you,

Clio Gourevitch

For more information about LLS, please visit lls.org

For more information about LLS's Children's Initiative, please visit lls.org/childrens-initiative

All donations are tax-deductible.