Old Wawbeek Road residents painted their road purple and raised over $2,000 to fight cancer

by Dan McClelland

As the organizers of Tupper Lake’s “Let’s Paint Our Town Purple” event on Saturday, May 2 prepared for their event on Old Wawbeek Road, light snow began to fall. That day was another very cold one, but the ladies weren’t deterred.

Their event was a fundraiser here for the American Cancer Society.

Putting up their tents at Donna (Leonard) Exware’s house at 131 Old Wawbeek Road, was Donna, her daughter Kim Henning of 360 Old Wawbeek Road and a friend, Debbie Denis. The walk planned was between the two houses, as many times as folks wished to do it.

Explained Kim Henning, if anyone donates $25, they will attach a purple ribbon (a Cancer Society symbol) on a neighbor’s mail box. By the end of the event, purple ribbons decorated mailboxes all along Old Wawbeek Road. Over 50 ribbons were attached to over 50 mailboxes, and Kim had to retrieve more than their supply on hand that day from a nearby Cancer Society representative.

The fundraising goal was $1,000- but over $2,000 was raised by the afternoon event. The ladies indeed painted their town road purple- as a vivid reminder of the important work the American Cancer Society does for so many victims of the dreaded disease.

Explained Kim in her promotional material, “Rose, my sister, had life-changing news 14 years ago when she had to have a double mastectomy. From that point on Rose has been raising money for the Cancer Society and up until now has raised over $350,000 through fundraisers like ours on May 2.

The proceeds of the Old Wawbeek Road event will be donated through Rose’s “Making Strides for Breast Cancer” team called “Rosie’s Riveters” to benefit the Cancer Society’s “Road to Recovery,” which provides cancer patients with a ride to and from their life-saving treatments.