On a typical fall day in 2014, high school freshman Sydney Paul was at home in Wellesley, MA, watching Grey’s Anatomy on TV with a friend, both of them admiring one of their favorite actors. Shortly afterwards, they saw an ad on Facebook for the 2014 Dempsey Challenge, an event featuring McDreamy himself and benefiting The Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing. A mere three days later, Sydney found herself in Lewiston, Maine, running in the 5K event and vowing to be back the following year.
The next year, however, Sydney would have a different approach. She would devote much of her spare time to raising money for the event, and making a difference to a cause that now mattered to her. How much did she dig getting active and giving back? Hint: the top youth fundraiser for the event is also the newest member of Positive Tracks’ Youth Ambassador Board (YAB). We talked to Sydney about how she and her friend Hailey Feinzig—McDream Team—raised $6,996 for the cause and what’s on her to-do list this year.
When did you start your fundraising efforts for the October 2015 event? In March, Hailey and I started selling snacks and drinks at local soccer fields. We made posters and read up on the Dempsey Center a lot so we could tell people about it and what it does. We wrote a letter that talked about that and our personal connection to the cause as well as the extra support from Positive Tracks.
Is it safe to say you had the getting active part down? Yes. I used to play soccer, basketball, softball and rowing. As for competitive sports, I am just concentrating on rowing now.
And how have you been involved in giving back? My temple requires youth to participate in service projects and connects them with a variety to choose from. Starting when I was 11 years old, I coached Special Olympics in basketball and track for a day every month. I really took to it. Last summer, I spent the best two weeks of my life in Australia on a trip with Rustic Pathways, coaching Special Olympics basketball and doing environmental beach clean up. Combining travel with service is really cool. This summer, I hope to do a similar project in Thailand, or to climb Kilimanjaro for a cause.
You should meet YAB member Kate Dumanian who climbed the Grand Teton for Big City Mountaineers: I’d like that!
What makes this cause personal to you? Cancer has touched my family, and I found a lot of support from people whose lives it has touched. I was very fortunate that one such supporter offered to match our fundraising.
You are joining the YAB. How did that come about? At the Champions For Hope event the night event before the Dempsey Challenge, I met Nini and Doug, and got fired up about the possibilities of Positive Tracks. Their approach is really cool and I hope to be able to bring in more ideas.
What’s up for next year? I want to get more involved with Positive Tracks, and come up with some sort of physical challenge to help as a fundraiser—maybe something to do with rowing on the erg. I also want to go up and tour the Dempsey Center. I’ll probably have rowing practice on Saturday, and if so, I’ll end up doing the bike ride on Sunday.
What were your most helpful tools in raising money? The letter! Explaining the cause, why it mattered to me, and what people’s donations would be supporting was important. Starting early was really helpful. Getting help, from my mom and my entire family, as well as family friends. Telling people that Positive Tracks was doubling dollars helped with asking and made people feel like they could have a bigger impact.
What’s the best way to inspire other kids to be Philanthletes? Getting to the event is what really made the difference. Once people get to an event, it’s easy to keep them involved.