There was another overwhelming outpouring of support during this year’s Festival of Hope.
The nonprofit organization raises money for local cancer patients to help offset non-medical related expenses such as groceries, fuel and rent.
For the past two years, the Valley Alternative Learning Transitioning School (VALTS) has had a booth at events selling items made by students. Instructor Karen Reason, a cancer survivor herself, explains why they’ve become so vested in Festival of Hope.
“Well, last year we decided we wanted to do something for Festival of Hope. The students and I talked about it, I talked about my cancer journey in the classroom and we’ve got other staff members that have had cancer journeys, and so the kids are well aware of that, plus their own cancer journeys within their own families. So we made slime for last year.”
She said the slime was an interesting project, and they ended up selling a lot and were able to donate $930 to Festival of Hope.
“This year we went a little different and we went with gnomes being “gnome more cancer” and we let the kids loose. We gave them the supplies and told them to make something that means something to them and we provided everything for them and we came up with 110 different gnomes.”
VALTS graduate Adam Keller volunteered his time the past two years selling their creations.
“Well, for year one, it was a fun experience to do,” explained Keller. “It was a nice thing to help people out, try to give money to a good cause, that kind of stuff. Then I came back because you it gives you kind of a good feeling when you do something good for the community.”
“It’s been very rewarding to get a younger generation involved in such an impactful program like the Festival of Hope,” added Reason.
If you were unable to attend this year’s event but would like to purchase a $10 gnome to support the Festival of Hope, you can swing by VALTS at the Harms Center in Scottsbluff until the end of June or email kreason@esu13.org.
