Are You An OpZOmist?

To the Editor:

My name is Mackenzie Page, and I’m a 13-year-old eighth grader attending Newtown Middle School. Recently my close family friend, 10-year-old Zoe McMorran, was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of brain cancer. She has asked everyone to be not an optimist, but an opZOmist. Zoe is being cared for with the latest medicine, but cancer treatment is very expensive. Thinking about ways to be opZOmistic, I became inspired.

My idea is for a fundraiser, The Great Pumpkin Challenge, to take place at my house, 14 Main Street this Halloween. I would like to create an enormous display of jack-o-lanterns, which would be exciting and fun but at the same time raise money for Zoe’s treatment and for the American Cancer Society. I am asking for $4 per pumpkin to display all of the great pumpkins stacked high on Main Street on Halloween night!

Please drop off your precarved pumpkin(s) and money on Saturday and/or Sunday (October 29 and 30) at 14 Main Street. On Halloween, we will create a great wall of pumpkins where you and the thousands of trick-or-treaters on Main Street will see all of the carved jack-o-lanterns to let everyone know we care. Fifty percent of the total proceeds will go to Zoe’s fund, to help pay for her costly treatment. The other half will go the American Cancer Society, to find a cure, so that nobody else will have to suffer from cancer.

My goal is to bring the community of Newtown together with this exciting new tradition. By being a part of The Great Pumpkin Challenge, everyone will have a fun time, but also can help many people along the road to a cure. My challenge to each of you is this: Will you “get your pumpkin on,” and become an opZOmist?. We can change the world, one pumpkin at a time!

Sincerely,

Mackenzie Page

 14 Main Street, Newtown                                    September 25, 2011