H

omestead Cancer Society had been prepping for their biggest annual event, the 5K Walk/Run, all year. The purpose of this event was to raise money and awareness about cancer. Last weekend, the hard work finally paid off.

The 5K Walk/Run event for this year brought even better results than last year, senior and treasurer Alyssa Liang said. With upbeat music mixed with clear and sunny skies, the event turnout was overall a success.

“From last year, we raised almost two times the amount of money,” Liang said, “With this money, we’re going to either donate it to Cancer Carepoint, which is one of the organizations we work with, or we’re going to use it to buy materials that we’re going to make for cancer patients.”

For next year, HCS hopes to improve their 5K Walk/Run by getting more families to come. They plan to do this by advertising better and more efficiently, such as posting on Facebook and other forms of social media, along with trying to obtain more followers on Instagram (@hhscancersociety).

“I’m actually thinking of advertising more next year, and trying to get more families to come,” activities director and sophomore Adiel Zaghi said, “We had really great attendance this year, but there’s always room for improvement.”

Although their 5K Walk/Run is their biggest event of the year, there are also more smaller events that HCS holds. For example, just this year, HCS held their first ever Pura Vida event, where they sold out almost all of their bracelets, said Liang.

Although the Pura Vida fundraiser was a success, HCS wants to offer students and members a different fundraiser next year, which is still a work-in-progress.

Other activities that HCS gives their members includes outreaches and a lot of schoolwide activities, such as a new poster making event this year where students put handprints or signed their name on posters in support and acknowledgement of different types of cancer. These posters were then hung up in the quad on World Cancer Day.

All of these club activities and events have one purpose: to help people with cancer.

“The purpose [of these events] is to raise awareness for cancer patients, but also to raise money and try to help kids at [Cancer] Carepoint out,” Zaghi said.