WATCH: Two teenagers have joined forces to raise money for cancer research. Ceilidh Millar reports.
Nolan and Keegan will be selling lavender on Government Street in Victoria from noon to 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 30. Donations can also be made online through GoFundMe Lavender for Cancer.
Keegan Small and Nolan Sievert are spending their summer selling bunches of lavender.
“We take it downtown and sell it to people on the street” explained Sievert.
It may sound like a summer job, but the Grade 11 students are raising money for a volunteer project that blossomed from their desire to help others.
“We came together and we thought we’d love to give back in some way and help people who have cancer,” said Small.
The best friends came up with the idea while attending the Powerful Youth Global Leadership Academy at Brookes Shawnigan Lake School.
One of the sessions at the academy was to start a dream project for their community.
“We had to combine our passions to come up with a way to give back to our community” explained Small.
For the Small family, a cure for cancer can’t come soon enough.
“I have metastasized cancer,” said Keegan’s mother, Dianne Small. “Unlike a lot of people who have stage 1, 2, or 3 cancer that then reoccurs mine is stage 4.”
Both boys dream their project could help others in Dianne’s situation.
“No other kid should ever find out that their Mom has got a clock running on them,” explained Dianne. “It shouldn’t happen to anybody else and if we can make that happen and this contributes to that it’s fantastic.”
The boys have sold 50 bunches since they started their project a week and a half ago.
“We’re asking $3 for the bundles,” said Keegan. “It’s more of a donation as a lot of people gave more.”
They’ve surpassed their $500.00 fundraising goal but they say they’ll keep going until they either return to school or all the lavender along Sievert’s family property has been picked.
The boys have started a GoFundMe page to raise additional funds for the B.C. Cancer Agency.
Ceilidh Millar
