The assignment was simple: conceptualize a way to help your community. Most of the sixth-grade students in All Saints Catholic School’s Social Emotional Learning class submitted their ideas on paper and moved on to their next assignment. But for five of the students, this simple assignment was the catalyst that launched an annual fundraiser that raised thousands of dollars to support cancer patients at Jupiter Medical Center.
“The assignment was to brainstorm something you could do to help your community,” says Lucy Kloska, one of the five students. “It was supposed to be more of an idea, but we turned it into an actual event.”
The event was a one-mile fun run held at their school with a mission to raise money to help cancer patients at JMC. Each of the girls had family members who had been diagnosed with cancer and the mother of one of the girls was undergoing treatment for cancer at JMC’s Anderson Family Cancer Institute. Lucy, Gigi Goncalves, and their friends, Ava Cartier and twins Lucy and Vicki Burkly, were determined to do something to materially help.
In November 2022, the five friends met with All Saints Catholic School Principal Jill Broz and shared their idea for the fundraiser. Broz embraced it. The girls jumped into planning the event at the start of 2023 and quickly realized that there was a lot more to organizing a fundraising event than they thought.
“It was a lot of work,” says Vicki. “We took a lot of different routes, jumping between ideas, before we settled on what we wanted to do.”
Eventually a plan was in place and the event date was set for May 6, 2023. The girls put the word out to their school community. “We started advertising in school. We put up posters and went on our school’s news network,” says Ava. “We put papers in the folders the little kids take home.”
After months of hard work, the day of the event arrived, and the inaugural Run for Cancer was underway. Students from the school came out to run, and the girls raised money through entry fees. They also sold raffle tickets for baskets they created and collected donations from families in the school community. “We had a solid plan going into the race, but like any event, some things had to be handled in real time” recalls Lucy B. “There were definitely moments of chaos, but that just added to the excitement and energy of the day.”
The first year of the event became more than just a success for the girls; it became their blueprint for growth. They took what they learned and set larger goals for subsequent years, expanding their outreach methods, growing their fundraising efforts, and increasing the amount they raised by more than 50 percent each year.
Their goal was to raise $1,000 which they surpassed with $1,801. The girls were ecstatic. “That day has a special place in my heart,” says Gigi. “It was truly amazing to see that we’re doing all this to help people with cancer.”
The girls quickly decided to host another run the following year. “We thought it was fun; it brought people together and it made a difference,” says Ava. “So, we thought let’s just keep doing this.”
They repeated the event in 2024 and in 2025, the girls hosted the third annual Run for Cancer event. Collectively the three events have raised almost $9,000, donations for which the team at the Anderson Family Cancer Institute at JMC are very grateful. “The hard work that these amazing young girls have done to raise money and awareness matters and makes a difference for the cancer patients,” says Debra Brandt, medical director of medical oncology/hematology at the Anderson Family Cancer Institute at JMC. “I look forward to seeing these girls continue to make a difference.”
One of the most moving parts of the event was the display of handmade posters created by participants to honor the cancer journeys of loved ones. Race registrants added the name of a family member, friend, or colleague undergoing treatment to a sign that read “I am running for…” The posters were given to the cancer team at JMC along with the check for the money raised. The medical staff remember treating some of the people named on the posters and asked how they were doing, says Lucy B.
The five friends graduated from All Saints Catholic School and moved on to high school this spring. As planning for the 2026 Run for Cancer event gets underway this fall, their younger siblings will carry the torch. Collectively, the girls have younger brothers and sisters in fourth through seventh grades who are still at the school and are excited to carry the torch to keep the run going.
Knowing that they will leave an enduring legacy behind makes the girls proud of the part they have played in supporting cancer patients. “It’s kind of sad to be telling people these stories, but it’s important to tell them,” Gigi says. “I hope people take away a bigger understanding of what we are doing, how much work we have put in, and how passionate we are about this topic.”
For more information on participating in or volunteering for the 2026 Run for Cancer please contact: PBurkly@allsaintsjupiter.org.