Teen hopes to raise $50,000 for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
By Heather Ruenz
If a big smile and positive attitude were the determining factors, Emma Jacobson would be a shoe-in as Student of the Year for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Jacobson, 17, a junior at Elkhorn Area High School – and her team, the Movers and Shakers – are on a mission to raise $50,000 for the LLS. Jacobson is one of 21 students vying for this year’s Milwaukee Student of the Year title, an honor awarded to whoever raises the most money by March 11, at the end of a 7-week campaign.
She has a personal reason for getting involved.
“My freshman year, my dad was diagnosed with leukemia and lymphoma,” she said.
Last year she was part of another team but raised a lot of money, $8,000, so was asked if she wanted to be a candidate for the Students of the Year campaign this year.
Jacobson asked her sisters – Madalyn Reichert, Rebecca Terpstra, Hannah Heggernes and Maren Jacobson, and close friends – Abby Cook, Kloie Potts, Kaeleigh Runnells and Paige Jacobs, along with her mom, Judy, who she refers to as the “team mom,” and the team Movers and Shakers was up and running.
“All of us – my sisters, my mom and my friends – are very excited and happy to be doing this,” she said.
Nonstop fundraising
“We started coming up with ideas for fundraising and have been trying to do a meeting every weekend to discuss what we’re doing,” Jacobson said.
They’re selling Kwik Trip car wash cards where buyers get five car washes for $36. The team had plans to distribute 50 coin boxes by last week at businesses throughout the area. They also did an O & H Kringle sale, which ended Wednesday but several hundred kringles were sold through that event.
The Movers and Shakers team has two upcoming fundraisers planned: a benefit at Whiskey Ranch in Delavan on Saturday, Feb. 27 and a brat and hot dog sale outside Frank’s Piggly Wiggly in Elkhorn March 6 and 7.
The Whiskey Ranch event will have numerous raffle baskets – all featuring items from area businesses and organizations – and 50/50 cash raffles every hour during the event.
There will also be guest bartenders helping out from 3 to 5 p.m. that day with all of the tips during that time going to support the cause.
Whiskey Ranch Bar and Grill is at W9002 State Road 11, Delavan. For more information call 262-882-2800.
On Saturday and Sunday, March 6 and 7, the team will be manning the Brat Hut outside Frank’s Piggly Wiggly in Elkhorn. It will be open for lunch from 10 a.m. until at least 2 p.m. both days but will stay open later if there are guests in line.
To make a donation to Jacobson and her team, click here or mail a check made out to “The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society,” with Emma Jacobson’s name in the memo section, to W6384 Sugar Creek Road, Elkhorn, WI 53121.
To read the rest of the story – including additional comments from Jacobson, as well as her dad, Steve, and an LLS representative along with details on the March 11 gala and the personal reasons the Movers and Shakers team members decided to participate – pick up a copy of Feb. 25-26 Southern Lakes Newspapers’ publications throughout the area.
