By KIMBERLY STRENK
Contributor

River Place girl scouts raise funds and awareness for schoolmate who has childhood leukemia.

At the River Place Elementary Ten Year Celebration on Oct. 21, enterprising girl scouts from Troop 288 took advantage of the opportunity to get in front of their peers and create awareness for the life-saving role blood donations play in all types of critical care diseases, including childhood leukemia.

Friend and fellow student, Dunnovan Healy has been at Dell Children’s Medical Center since late August battling childhood leukemia, and blood donations have been integral to his care. At the RPE event, troop members raised more than $165 in crumpled ones and fives through sales of Dunnovan’s In Love and Courage faith bracelets, with all proceeds benefitting Central Austin’s blood center, We Are Blood (weareblood.org).

Girl Scout 288 Troop members Maggie Cartwright, Cate Cloran, Kate Grace, Kenzie Kudrick, Griffan Molina, Lily Nolan, and Natascha Strenk.

The school event capped a month of fundraising by Troop 288 in Dunnovan’s honor. They held two bake sales and bracelet sales in River Place raising more than $1,400, which they donated to the Healy family’s You Caring fund (YouCaring.com/Dunnovan-Healy-641831).

We Are Blood also held a successful blood drive at RPE on Sept. 20 in honor of Dunnovan and fellow student Madison Tran.

To learn how you can host your own blood drive, contact Sheryl Tobler at blooddrives@weareblood.org or dial 512-206-1300.

To find out more about Dunnovan’s In Love and Courage bracelets, please contact Kimberly Strenk at kimberly@fivetwosq.com