Youth in the Snell Farm Children’s Center (SFCC) 4H Club voted last winter to begin a community service project to help raise money for Relay for Life, an American Cancer Society event that raises awareness and funds to fight cancer. The youth decided to make pink and white boondoggle key chains to be used as promotional gifts to help raise breast cancer awareness.  

The boys visited a local craft store to buy supplies, recruited other youth to help, and worked throughout the winter months to craft the key chains, which took about 30 minutes each to complete. According to Program Manager Louise Kolz, "The boys worked on them whenever they had down time or they were sitting around talking. Every time I looked around, some of the boys were making keychains." When interest flagged, the 4H Club officers rallied the workers to complete the project. About 20 boys participated and, by late March, they had completed 200 key chains. 

On March 29 representatives from the 4H Club visited the Hammondsport Fire Station to present the key chains to 2011 Bath Hammondsport Relay for Life team chairs Lisa Fox and Deborah Shader; team members Sue Hannan (who is also an SFCC youth care professional), Rosemary Madigan, Milt Von Hagn, and Donna Gerych; and American Cancer Society coach Louise McIntosh. The boys also brought a cake decorated with a pink ribbon to serve to the committee. 

The Relay for Life committee was very impressed with the boys’ efforts and decided to put a key chain at each place setting at their "Christmas in July" banquet this summer. The committee expects 300 people to attend the banquet, so the boys committed to making another 100 key chains in purple for breast cancer survivors who attend.  

The boys are learning from participating in the project. "When we visited with the Relay for Life committee, one of the women talked to them about being a cancer survivor," Louise says. "Projects like this also give the boys an understanding that the world is bigger than they are and that other people have struggles. It shows them that, even though they’re struggling, they can help others."