HOULTON — The Ward family of Houlton were recent speakers at the Houlton Rotary Club to provide an update on the Kenna Care Bags project.
The project was created in memory of Makenna Ward, the 6-year-old daughter of Kirk and Amy Ward who died Dec. 29, 2013, after a lengthy battle with cancer. Kenna’s Care Bags are given to children who are going through chemotherapy. This year, their goal was 100 bags.
Contributed photo
UPDATE — Amy Ward, left, and Marcie Norton of Rotary display a couple of Kenna Care Bags.
“I was a little worried at first because there wasn’t that much of a response,” Amy Ward said. “Then down to two days before we were to close the order of bags, once again family, friends, churches and the community stepped up to the plate and we were able to sell 142 bags.”
These bags are filled with fun things as well. When a child getting chemo for the first day is getting a Kenna Bag, and if they have a sibling with them, that sibling will also be able to get a bag.
“I am super excited about this because during Makenna’s many trips to Bangor she always wanted either Felicity or Blake to go with her because she didn’t really like to play with some of the other kids because she was shy, so she wanted one of them to go,” Amy said. “Many times Kenna would get something and the look on the other kids faces was, ‘how come I didn’t get anything?’ So by allowing the sibling to get one of these will be nice and allow that sibling to know they are as important as well. It isn’t only the child that has cancer going through all of this, but it is the whole family that is affected.”
The point of these bags is not only to give these kids/families bags with goodies in them, but rather to let these kids and their family know that someone cares for them. This is how the family is going to be able to keep Makenna’s spirit and legacy alive. The goal is to continue this project every year.
Last year, the bags were taken to Brewer at the Lafayette Cancer Care Center where Makenna had gotten her treatments. They were also able to send a few bags to Tufts in Boston where Kenna had her stem cell recoveries.
The goal is to expand the scope this year to places such as Portland at Barbara Bush and also to Boston Children’s, where Makenna had her MIBG Radiation. They hope to expand a little more next year, possibly New York at Sloan Kettering.
“With these bags going to other people/cities we would really like to be able to have all of these bags embroidered with Kenna Cares and the gold ribbon for childhood cancer stitched on them,” Amy said. “That way people will know where these bags came from and will also get the word out there regarding childhood cancer.”
At this time, the group does not have the resources/money to be able to stitch a logo on it.
“Hopefully with your help we would be able to get the name stitched on these bags and will be able to continue to grow more with the amount of Kenna bags and to continue to share Makenna’s dream/wish with these wonderful and amazing kids,” Amy said. “We always have hope and that is what these bags are all about: one little girl’s dream to encourage and give back.”
For more information, see Kenna Care Bags on Faceboook.
