Thank you for visiting my website! My name is Bella Stryker and I am honored to say that I am fundraising for an incredible organization: the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. LLS has a mission to "Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families" (lls.org). LLS was founded over 70 years ago by a family for other families. We believe in a family mentality to help bring each other and help each other navigate what may be some of our darkest hours. 

I have partnered with LLS as a candidate member of their Student of the Year program. By being a part of this extinguishable leadership development program I am cultivating professional skills such as entrepreneurship, marketing, and project management all while fundraising funds for LLS. Along with my other candidate leaders Isabela Tuazon and Anna Karlshoej, I am leading Project: Hope. 

I personally got involved not only because of the extensive impact of this organization, but also because I have a firm belief that the community raises each other up. An example of this is how the whole world lets children believe in Santa. When you're a kid and you are in the store and you point to a new toy and say "Mom, I really hope Santa brings me that this year", nobody else in the aisle corrects you. Everybody lets you believe. Community supports community, even when it's something that is so easy to spoil. While the magic of Santa may be an innocent explanation, it is the simplest one that allows you to see the clear parallels to how I hope to change the world. There are children my age- and younger- around the world who can't get their license to drive because they aren't healthy enough. There are young children who can't go out and celebrate Halloween because chemo has given them the gift of another chance at life, but also a severe autoimmune disease that means they can die if they get the flu. There are adults who want to get married and create families of their own, but don't because they are too scared of being taken from the world too early and being forced to leave their family on their own. There are parents who have a chance at surviving if given treatment, but choose to instead pass on so they don't leave their children in debt. LLS diligently works around the clock to help these families. However, without a cure, this is not always enough. Every nine minutes somebody in the United States dies from blood cancer, leaving yet another family to mourn and grieve the loss of a loved one. 

With your help, I want to better our community. I want to help raise up our suffering community members and let them know that we are there to support them. I want to make an impact on not just our local community, but also the world. From February 4th to March 26th 2021, I have a personal goal to raise $5,000 from at least 100 different people. By getting money from multiple sponsors I help complete my goal of informing more people about the dangers of blood cancer and the impact LLS has. Project: Hope and I will also be putting on several COVID-19 safe events and we would love to have your support. If you would like to be added to our email list to be notified of our events, please send me an email at bellastryker18@gmail.com. For more information about LLS, please visit lls.org

Thank you for giving the gift of life,

Bella Stryker

2021 Student of the Year Candidate

PS: Make your donation go further and check to see if your company matches donations! https://www.matchinggifts.com/lls/