LYNNFIELD — See The Good Foundation will be hosting its inaugural annual walk in town on Sunday, Sept. 10, in honor of Sharla Sieve, a former Lynnfield Middle School teacher and tennis enthusiast.
Sieve passed away on Dec. 7 of last year after battling stage four metastatic colorectal cancer for a year and a half. During her treatment, she needed hepatic arterial infusions, which were available only in New York. Sieve traveled there twice every month, despite being in proximity to Boston’s hospitals.
Her 15-year-old daughter Olivia reached out to the local community through Facebook to ask for donations that would support a hepatic arterial-infusion pump clinical program at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston for future patients.
After Sieve’s death, her mother and children began the See The Good Foundation in her memory and to continue the work Olivia started.
Sieve’s former student and friend Jenna Camann said Sieve’s motto was always to “see the good” in others. She said Sieve’s family members and friends are committed to spreading that message through various initiatives such as the walk, which Camann is helping the family organize.
According to Camann, Sieve was passionate about walking through the community and waving to everyone she passed by each day. The ‘See The Good’ walk is thus in honor of Sieve’s love for walking around town and will follow the same route she walked.
“One thing she was really passionate about besides being with her kids was walking,” Camann said. “That is one way for us to celebrate her life. The walk will be a part of what her walk was every day. We will start from the Town Common and go down Summer Street in Lynnfield, culminating in New Hall Park.”
Camann said the proceeds from the walk will go toward scholarships and Mass General, as well as toward the foundation, “a nonprofit organization started to honor Sharla’s life and legacy.”
“The donations will also go toward tennis-related activities,” Camann added. “She was so passionately involved as a student, a player, and a coach. Her daughter is now a captain of the tennis team at school.”
Sieve would have turned 50 on Thursday, Aug. 24, and the walk was purposefully planned around the time of her birthday to celebrate her life. Her children will kick off the event on Sept. 10 at 9 a.m. by talking about their mother, and will commence the walk at 9:30 a.m.
