FARGO – Ruth Hobbs, a 6-year-old in a flowing blue sunhat, had an unusual day Friday at the Sanford Roger Maris Cancer Center when two sixth-graders showed and offered her a bracelet.
“What’s your favorite color?” asked Makenna Bares, 11.
“Blue,” the visibly shy Hobbs replied, before pausing to consider her answer. “And purple.”
“These are the bracelets that we made; you can pick,” said Alexa Lorshbough, 11, holding out a bag of dozens of bracelets that she, Bares and three other girls her age donated to the hospital’s pediatric oncology department for children with cancer.
“You want a blue one?” Lorshbough suggested.
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The team of five who call themselves the Color Girlz have made hundreds of bracelets and sold them at events to raise money for cancer-fighting organizations.
After raising about $600 from selling bracelets at the YMCA, the Ronald McDonald golf tournament and other venues, the girls decided to gift some of the bracelets directly to children affected by cancer. One of those was Hobbs, who has leukemia.
“We wanted to make a difference,” Bares said Friday in the hospital playroom where she met Hobbs for the first time.
“We wanted to help kids with cancer,” Lorshbough added.
“And we wanted to be creative too,” Bares said, explaining their decision to make colorful bracelets.
The girls said knowing people with cancer, including their school principal at Sullivan Middle School in Fargo, got them interested in the issue.
After Hobbs received her bracelet, Bares and Lorshbough presented a $300 check to a Sanford representative who said the donation will likely be used for playroom improvements.
Susan Hobbs, Ruth’s mother, said they commute to Fargo for’ treatment and that her leukemia was getting better.
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“We only have to come to Fargo once a month now,” she said.
As her eyes watered, she said she appreciated the work of the Color Girlz and that the gift was a welcome distraction for her family.
“It’s a break from the reality,” Susan Hobbs said.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Adrian Glass-Moore at (701) 241-5599
