Rainbow Connection fundraiser is a success
Since its inception Pam Sprowls hosted the annual Mums for the Cause fundraiser in the back yard of her Uhrichsville home. This year, due to a history of growth and precautions for the coronavirus, the event was moved to Boltz Family Farms Market in New Philadelphia and resulted in a total of 1,200 mums sold throughout the season.
“This is our community. This is where we’ve grown up. This is where we live. This is where we raise our family,” Carol Boltz said. “Small businesses, that’s what we do. We’re your neighbors, and we want to help our neighbors.”
Carmel Haueter, outgoing director of the Rainbow Connection, was presented a check for more than $2,400, earmarked for Seeds of Hope.
“Everyone knows how bad cancer is in our community, and this money comes in handy because we’ll do anything for you: help you with your medical bills, your pharmaceutical costs. We’ll even buy your wig,” Haueter said. “We truly believe that women should have what they need. We want the public to know that you can give us a call at the Rainbow Connection.”
Haueter described other ways the Rainbow Connection helps. “We not only have the Seeds of Hope money, we have our general fund that will also go to any illness in Tuscarawas County. That’s what we’re here for — to help children with handicaps and adults with special needs for medical needs or medical bills, pharmaceutical costs, and all of that, but the special things you don’t think about like those sleeves (for swelling), they’re expensive. They’re important. You have to have one, and that’s what the Rainbow Connection does. We try and fill the need of the individuals of our community.”
Over the past 12 years, Mums for the Cause raised nearly $7,500 for Rainbow Connection’s Seeds of Hope campaign, helping women in Tuscarawas County diagnosed with any type of cancer. Sprowls, a 12-year breast cancer survivor, initiated the Seeds of Hope campaign with the vision that “together we can plant seeds of hope for a world without cancer.”
The Rainbow Connection can be reached at 330-343-8686 and 119 Third St. NW in New Philadelphia.
