Swampscott students help fight cancer

SWAMPSCOTT – First grade students Brooklyn Pierce and Graham Pasersky are proof that you?re never too young to help others as they campaign to raise money for children with cancer.The two Clarke Elementary School students have started a fund to raise money for Mass General Hospital for Children. From Feb. 10 through Fen. 14, the pair will be collecting coins from their classmates in decorated bins placed around the school, and the fundraiser will continue online until the end of February through a website directly connected to the hospital.?If they?re this motivated to do such a wonderful thing at age seven, imagine what they?ll do as they get older,” said Graham?s mother, Ericka Pasersky. “It?s motivating and empowering.”No one is quite sure how the two started scheming to “help sick kids.” The two first came home in December with a list of their classmates? names on the back of an old town voter registration form, claiming their classmates were going to give them money to help.Brooklyn?s mother, Krystal Pierce, said she didn?t know the two were friends, only that they were seated next to each other in art class. She suspected that?s where they got to talking about helping “sick kids.” Pierce said the two had similar personalities in that they were “very sweet and caring.”?We don?t even have anyone in our family with pediatric cancer,” said Pasersky. “They just thought of it.”Pasersky said she was most impressed by their dedication, because they kept bothering their teacher about how they would help sick kids. Eventually, they met with Clarke Principal Lois Longin and brainstormed how to move forward.Longin said community giving is encouraged at the Clarke School, especially through the group Fourth Grade Leaders, who conduct community service projects once a month, such as giving Valentine?s Day cards to local police and fire departments and making placemats for nursing home residents.?We?re big on that at this school,” said Longin. “We want the children to think outside themselves, rather than what they are getting for their birthday or for Christmas.”At a school assembly on Friday, Brooklyn told her classmates that watching the Fourth Grade Leaders in their holiday fundraisers inspired her to want to help.?We reached out to the Clarke School because it?s a community,” said Pasersky.Already, Brooklyn and Graham have raised $700 through the help of family and friends by word-of-mouth and sharing through social media.Click here to donate to Brooklyn and Graham?s fundraiser. Local companies willing to make any donation contact Krystal Pierce as [email protected].{{tncms-asset app=”editorial” id=”dfd84efa-90f6-11e3-9f28-0019bb2963f4″}}Sgt. Patrick Burke was the special guest at the Clarke Elementary School in Swampscott, where he presented the school with this American flag that flew over the skies of Afghanistan on November 22, 2013 in a USAF C-17A Globemaster III. Clarke students John Cuttle, left, and Rachael Hussey, right helped display it. (Click to enlarge)