Left to right, Ariann Jackson, Abby Sainsbury, Mia Martinelli, Riley Pearmund, and Landon Jackson, the organizers of the fundraiser.

The people of Downieville are mostly aware of the activities surrounding the Downieville School fundraiser we call the Cancer Awareness Walk. But for our town's guests and those who don't, this article is for all of you.

The Cancer Awareness Walk is an annual Mother's Day weekend event. This year it was held on May 13th from 9:30 a.m to noon. The event is sponsored by DHS's CSF (California Scholarship Federation) chapter as one of their community service projects.

The very first Cancer Awareness walk was in 2008, almost as long as I've been alive. The fundraiser was started as a senior project by former student Stacey Hallman. The money raised goes through a program involving our friend Frank Lang and SFMR. It is distributed to local cancer patients who need financial help with transportation costs to appointments (including reimbursement of gas costs), special dietary components, equipment, or other fees not covered by insurance. This year the Cancer Awareness Walk was mainly donation-based and raised almost $400.

Two hikes were student-led this year. CSF members, including President Landon Jackson, Riley Pearmund, Ariann Jackson, Maddie Sperry, Abigail Sainsbury, Lily Antrim, and Colton White, helped lead the walks along with Nick Martinelli and former DHS student Connor White. Former CSF President Mia Martinelli helped prep the salads for the luncheon that followed the Walk.

Ariann Jackson and Abigail Sainsbury headed the first group; they walked a mile from the school, up First Divide Road, and a mile back. Maddie Sperry and Lily Antrim led the second group; they walked 2 miles from the cafeteria up First Divide and 2 miles back.

For every quarter mile walked, participants got a certain number of tickets. You could enter those tickets into a raffle that was held after everyone returned from their hikes.

Following the hikes, CSF hosted an amazing luncheon with the help and guidance of Ms. Amber Baca-Sainsbury, CSF adviser. At the end, a raffle was held with donated prizes from our great local businesses. Our CSF Chapter thanks Karen & Mike Galan, Cindy McCreary at Sierra Hardware, Cold Rush, The Red Moose Cafe, Sierra Pines Resort, The Sierra City Mercantile, Kathy Fisher at La Sierra Beauty Boutique, Two Rivers Cafe, Feather at La Cocina del Oro and DVL Grocery for donating raffle prizes! Everyone loved them! Finally, thank you to the students who put this event together to help the community and for leading the hikes through our beautiful mountains.