Madison Dickerson is a very vibrant fifth grader that attends Stafford Elementary. She is smart, pretty, but best of all she has a very compassionate and giving heart. When she heard that April Mathers (1st grade teacher) had cancer and beat it through treatments, Madison wanted to help everyone beat cancer. So, she came up with a way to raise money for St. Jude Hospital.

And raise money she did!

With the help of her classmates and teachers collectively they raised $1,100.00 for St. Jude Hospital. Her first step was to type up a proposal about what she wanted to do and submit it to Mr. Nash (principal at the time) for approval. Mr. Nash put his stamp of approval on it and thus the fundraiser ‘Caps for Cancer’ was born.

‘Caps for Cancer’ worked like this-from February 10th through May 19th students were allowed to wear a cap, or hat if you will, to school when they donated a dollar. When teachers donated a $1.00 this allowed them to wear jeans to school that day.

The goal was to raise $1,000.00 and the week before it was over Madison decided to offer a popsicle party donated by her step father Tony Aguado to the class raising the most money. She wanted them to make their goal. And that is all it took to get the last amount of money to surpass their goal. The last day they raised $361.00. The three classes that raised the highest amount of money were Mrs. Janek’s 5th grade class, Mrs. Nelson’s kindergarten class and Mrs. Patterson’s 1st grade class. Each of these classes raised over $50.00 each. Mrs. Aguado (pre-K teacher and Madison’s mom) said “On the last day, kids had even brought their piggy banks from home to give what they had. There were lots of kids that brought a dollar or more who did not even wear a cap they just wanted to donate to the cause”.

Because the students and teachers surpassed their goal, every class will have a popsicle party. It truly was a win-win situation for everyone. St. Jude Hospital is going to get a big donation and Stafford Elementary students are going to enjoy a popsicle party.

Madison said, “I am so proud of everyone that helped raise the money. Students and teachers worked really hard and were really excited about being able to help others and make a difference in people’s lives.”

When it comes from the heart, that is when you really can make a difference in people’s lives. Congratulations Stafford Elementary! Job well done.