LYNN — At 16-year-old Fiona Hyland’s yard sale to raise funds for the Walk for Boston Children’s Hospital, the community came together to raise more than $1,000 for her cause.
“This was way beyond our expectations,” Alicia Hyland, Fiona’s mother, said.
Fiona has been a patient at BCH since she was one month old, after being born with bilateral talipes, or clubfoot. Ever since she was 6, Fiona has been fundraising and participating in the walk.
Alicia said she was shocked by how many people ended up coming to the yard sale to donate. Around $150 to $200 was raised by selling actual items, and the rest came from donations.
“It was much more people coming by and just giving donations, or people giving donations online,” Alicia said. “We made $1,040 right now… at least $700 of that was from people in Lynn donating.”
To hit the fundraiser’s “miracle marker” status, Alicia said walkers have to raise $1,000 if they are older than 13 years old.
“In our minds, we’re always trying to hit that $1,000 each year. It doesn’t always happen. The last few years have been rough. I think with the pandemic and all the changes financially that have come as a result of that, donations were just down,” Alicia said.
Alicia said she thinks a big reason they did so well this year was the publicity they received from city councilors such as Ward 2 Councilor Obed Matul and Councilor-at-Large Brian Field, who attended the event.
The Hylands have lived in Lynn since 2005, and Fiona has lived in the city her whole life.
“This yard sale especially just showed us what a wider community we have here,” Alicia said.
She added that after getting word of the event, local author Tom Soucy stopped by the Hyland house, offering to sell signed copies of his books and give all of the proceeds to Fiona’s cause.
Alicia also said that someone stopped Fiona while she was walking the family’s dog, after recognizing her from an article in The Item, and gave her $5 .
“It’s just little things like that, you know, this is why we live here,” Alicia said.
People can still donate to Fiona’s cause at https://secure.childrenshospital.org/site/TR/Walk/Walk?px=1285460&pg=personal&fr_id=2460&cap_id=1285460 .
