Faces
Teenager builds on sister’s experience K
ylie Kuhns didn’t look nervous when the camera closed in on her at The Rachel Ray Show earlier this year and the famed host started asking her ques- tions—but she was.
Still, she was prepared, and she spoke from the heart, just as she has since she founded Kelsey’s Dream, a foundation to help young cancer patients that was recog- nized as a nonprofit in 2007. It’s named after her sister, who died in 2005 from leukemia when she was 12 years old. Kylie’s dedication to following in the footsteps of her sister, who would support other children in the hospital even though she was also sick, led her to being chosen as one of the five finalists for the USA Today Kindness Challenge. “We never would have guessed it would grow this quickly,” said Kylie, who with her family is a member of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Middleburg, Pa. “A lot of people
100 plus
106: Bertha Turnwall, First, Karlstad, Minn. 103: Percy Batey, Messiah, South Wil- liamsport, Pa.; Kathryn Kreider, Jerusa- lem, Seville, Ohio. 101: Mitzi Fortunato, St. Andrew, Port St. Lucie, Fla.; Clara Landdeck, Galilean, Ocean Shores, Wash. 100: Martha Detrick, Atonement, Syra- cuse, N.Y.; Elaine Fenske, Bethel, Bemidji, Minn.; Ken Flaten, First of Kennewick, Kennewick, Wash.; Ralph Sather, Calvary, San Diego; Jeanette Stuempfle, Messiah, South Williamsport, Pa.; Gertrude Weit- zenkamp, St. Paul, Hooper, Neb.; Margaret Mary Yahl, Zion, St. Marys, Ohio.
Share your accomplishments, awards and 100+ members in “Faces.” Send to:
lutheran@thelutheran.orgor “Faces,” The Lutheran, 8765 W. Hig gins Rd., Chicago, IL 60631.
Kylie Kuhns takes orders at Dunkin’ Donuts in Mifflinburg, Pa., to raise money for her foundation, which helps young cancer patients.
have been contacting me across the country since the show, so it turned out to be a good way to get the word out.” Kelsey’s Dream assists children in several ways. The foundation helps supply a play therapy toy for children with can-
cer, which has a matching bandana and is constructed so it can mirror what happens to a child while going through the chemotherapy process. There’s also a blanket program, with a goal of providing 100 handmade blankets each year to Camp Dost, a pediatric children’s cancer camp in Millville, Pa.
The Snack Pack program collects and brings snacks to children under- going treatment at the nearby Geisinger Medical Center. Kelsey’s Dream has raised more than $130,000 to benefit children in need across the country. Kylie’s parents, Lynn and Tina, said they are “proud of the energy that Kylie puts into keeping her sister Kelsey’s spirit alive. We were blessed with two very caring children.”
Kylie still finds time to be a teen, participating in sports and other after- school activities.
“I’m lucky because I get such great support from our community, so I
don’t have to do everything by myself,” she said. For those who don’t think they can do all the things Kylie does, she has some advice. “We always say that it doesn’t matter what it is that you do, big or small,” she said. “Any little bit helps. It all helps in the end.”
For more information, visit
kelseysdream.org. Jeff Favre Favre is a contributing editor of The Lutheran.
July 2011 43
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