Chris Banyas
Life Editor
Tumor. Cancer. Chemo. Three little words. Self-contained epic stories of horrifying discovery and uphill battles that all too often end in tragedy.
The processes of chemotherapy and other radiation treatments are simple in theory: wage a war of attrition against an enemy by means of a scorched Earth tactic, or in this case a scorched immune system.
Withstanding these treatments would be a lot to ask of any adult and even more to ask of a child, yet all too often parents must watch their children grow up, not amongst friends on playgrounds, but surrounded by doctors and needles.
Reminding these children that they are in fact still children is one of the causes that the students and faculty of the Idaho State University College of Pharmacy have taken up by putting on the twenty-second annual Spaghetti Feed, Auction and Raffle, which through a partnership with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, helps to raise money to make a child’s wish come true.
The event will take place Feb. 27 at 6 p.m. in the Pond Student Union Building Ballroom at a price of $5 per person or $20 for a family of four or more. Tickets may be purchased at the door.
“We fund their wish, so at the very least 25 percent of our funds go to them,” said Alison Webb, who along with Roger Call, serves as the chair of the event.
Brendan, a 13-year-old boy currently batting glioblastoma, a rare type of brain tumor, was selected as the beneficiary of this year’s event.
Brendan’s wish involves visiting with a video game creator.
“I’m pretty sure Modern Warfare is the producer that he wants to meet,” said Webb. “Make-a-Wish does all the scheduling for that kind of stuff. We just give them the money.”
Yadira Gil, an 18-year-old survivor of leukemia, was selected last year. She received financial assistance to attend the Idaho Falls ISU campus.
The remaining portion of funds raised go toward the many outreach programs put on by the College of Pharmacy, which serve as an educational component to the students’ course of study as well as an opportunity for real world experience.
“We have Operation Immunization, which is where we go and do clinics around here. Most of the time we do a lot of flu clinics and so we go to different places of work. We’ve vaccinated the faculty here,” said Webb. “We do other immunization clinics and immunization education and stuff like that. We have Operation Heart and Diabetes and we’ve done the Homeless Stand Down.”
Other outreach programs include Poison Prevention, Meth Awareness and Generation Rx, in which ISU pharmacy students go into local schools and educate students.
Working with children is one of the reasons that Webb became so involved with the event.
“I like seeing them light up about learning different things and being able to teach them those things that they may not learn other places,” said Webb. “With the Make-a-Wish stuff, I’ve had some family members that had cancer, and I like to be able to see those children light up and being able to fund them in any way I can.”
Donations may be made either in the form of cash, or items that will go into the auction, which will be run by an auctioneer from Prime Time Auctions in Pocatello.
Last year, between the auction and dinner, approximately $19,000 was raised.
The spaghetti sauce used in the meal is homemade, and has been a constant for many years.
“It’s kind of the one spaghetti sauce that we use and we’ve used it for a really long time,” said Webb. “I think it’s Kevin Cleveland’s
For more information regarding donations, tickets, or anything to do with the event, please visit http://pharmacy.isu.edu/live/sfra. Email inquiries should be directed to ude.usi.ycamrahpnull@arfs.
