Young Mr. Blake Makes Life Wonderful for Those in Need

If not for a pandemic, this group of 8th grade boys would be finishing off a football season and heading to the basketball courts or ice rinks.

Instead, this unselfish crew -- led by Evan Blake -- has been raising funds for Christmas Without Cancer. With entrepreneurship in action, these self-starters from Saint Michael’s Grammar School in Orland Park began their own Christmas Without Cancer Gift Card Wreath GoFundMe campaign: https://gf.me/u/y7wrth.

Saturday afternoon when temperatures were mild and better suited for pickup football, the boys huddled in the Blake's garage (with proper distancing) and got up field with their first 15 wreaths adorned with gift cards, coupons, cash cards and other items that fit the Christmas Without Cancer mission:

Christmas Without Cancer identifies need and then provides gifts and basic necessities to Chicagoland families with members stricken with cancer so to allow the beauty of Christmas to shine through while family members find comfort in their devotion to one another.

Only last year, young Mr. Blake spearheaded a fundraiser for a toy drive for Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in September of 2019.

“I lost my cousin Nick to childhood cancer and I wanted to give back,” said Blake on his home page. He went on to explain the obvious challenges posed by COVID 19.

“But I still wanted to do something to honor Nick and those who have cancer. When Nick was sick, Christmas Without Cancer was such a great organization. They helped my aunt and her family during the holidays and it was one less thing for them to worry about so they could just enjoy being together.”

The Mount Greenwood toddler, Nick Micelli, died in May of 2019.

Evan was devastated by the loss of his little cousin, which prompted him to follow the lead of another cousin, Renee Copeland, vice president of Christmas Without Cancer, who has been instrumental in keeping the light burning in every CWC family window and using technology to turn the most unfamiliar of times into memorable ones.

Copeland joined the Saint Michael’s contingent Saturday, pitching in with her cousin and Evan’s mother, Robyn Blake, to put some finishing touches to the wreath creations.

“We had a perfect day,” said Robyn. “The boys got a chance to surprise a local family with a wreath.”

As the saying goes, “many hands make for light work” and Evan was thrilled to have his BFFs aboard: Joe Spano, Michael Flynn, Ryan Ward, Gavin Obrochta, Gavin Weiss, Aidan McGovern, Emmett McCarthy, Charlie Kohlstedt , Louis Kulekowskis and Jack Palmer.

Evan will take the test to attend Saint Rita of Cascia, where the Augustinians “assist students in discovering ways to serve the underprivileged locally and around the world.”

Christmas Without Cancer has enjoyed support from Saint Rita students since 2003 when founder Gerri Neylon first put out the call for people to wrap gifts and distribute them to families, especially those families with children.

The boys in attendance Saturday will scatter to different high schools but are pledging to keep a CWC bond in tact with an annual tradition befitting best friends who can make the best of a bad situation – especially in the extraordinary 2020.

“The boys asked questions and really wanted to know more about the Christmas Without Cancer organization and about the families we would be helping this Christmas. I was truly impressed,” said Copeland.

According to Copeland, everyone arrived prepared to work and the only real timeout, or break, was to hand-deliver a wreath to a local cancer warrior, Orland Park resident, Tonia Bellik. Copeland’s motivation was intuitive.

“What I really wanted was for the boys to experience the best part of all their hard work - which is witnessing the joy of helping a local family. Tonia was so grateful.

“It is so nice that the younger generation sees what we are doing and that they want to be involved in making a difference in the community.

This year, "Giving Tuesday" lands on December 1, 2020 and the young men from Saint Michael’s hope this “global generosity movement unleashing the power of people” will take on a robust sense of urgency locally.

Saint Michael’s Grammar School’s Christmas Without Cancer Gift Card Wreath GoFundMe campaign can be accessed at: https://gf.me/u/y7wrth.