Communities Help Raise Thousands for Stow Kindergartener with Cancer

More than $8,000 was raised last Sunday when hundreds of people poured into  to show an outpouring of love for a Stow Kindergartener with cancer. 

Keith Burkett, a Kindergarten student, was diagnosed with an unspecific soft tissue sarcoma. 

According to Jennifer Morris, , Keith's doctors are optimistic that chemotherapy and radiation will shrink the tumor to a size when it can be surgically removed.  

"It will be a year or more of hospital stays for Keith," she said.

So, to help the family, Morris, other volunteers and Laziza owner Michael Awad organized a fundraiser dinner.

"There were about 180 tickets sold and we had a silent auction," Morris said. "The owner and his staff donated their time while the owner donated all of the food and 100 percent of the money to the Burkett family." 

Tickets for the dinner were $50 a couple and with the help of a silent auction, more than $8,000 was given to the family. 

"Keith's mom, step dad, and grandparents were all there and very happy with the turn out," she said. "We have been working on this for the past few months and it went great and we felt very good about the outcome."