Cancer Kids First is a global organization aiming to give more of a childhood to younger cancer patients around the world. They have donated 800 toys/books, have 8,000 plus volunteers and 40 international chapters. Juniors Kaitlyn Premo and Madison Starr have brought one of those chapters to Fenton.

“I stumbled across the idea on TikTok,” Premo said. “I ran the idea by Madison to start a chapter here in Fenton and asked my mom for help. We figured with Hurley being nearby and the huge Oncology clinic that they could use our help.” 

The founder of the organization is 15-year-old Olivia Zhang. Zhang attends school at Mclean High school in Virginia, and to get the ball rolling here, she met via zoom with Premo 

“After meeting with the founder of Cancer Kids First, she reached back out to me and said she liked my ideas and approved the Fenton chapter,” Premo said.

The day-to-day of running a chapter involves a myriad of things from making phone calls to planning events.

“We work on planning events, talking to different hospitals and businesses and creating social media posts promoting things happening at headquarters,” Premo said. “We just recently hosted a donation event teamed up with State Bank on Feb. 18.”

Premo and Starr set up a table in the main lobby of the bank to be close to any traffic coming in and out.

“At the time, we were just accepting cash donations,” Starr said. “Katie and I went there after school and stayed there for a few hours and made a little under $250 in cash from the people coming in and out of the building.”

Starr and Premo are in the process of planning their next donation event— collecting items Hurley is running low on. Such as things like play dough, hot wheels cars, adult coloring books and crossword puzzles. For more information regarding cancer Kids First, you can visit their website at cancerkidsfirst.org.