WESTFIELD — A local fundraising team led by two neighbors and friends is seeking donations in support of their cause as they prepare to participate in the 2025 Jimmy Fund Walk presented by Hyundai and raise money for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
West Springfield residents and friends Deb Callahan and Kris Towse have joined forces to participate in the annual fundraising walk to support the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and will host two additional fundraiser events in the time leading up to their October 5 marathon walk day.
Callahan is a cancer survivor and her efforts in fundraising with Dana Farber began in 2023 after her diagnosis. That fall she participated in the 10K portion of the marathon walk that follows almost the same route as the Boston Marathon. With the slight difference in route, walkers of this event end up going a full 27 miles as opposed to the standard 26.2 of a marathon.
Last year Callahan completed the marathon walk on her own. After last year’s efforts Callahan was letting her neighbor, Towse, know how it went and quickly Towse was now the newest member to the Team Callahan efforts.
“We didn’t make a heck of a lot of money [last year] and when I came home that day I saw Kris across the street and told her how I just got done walking the 27-mile marathon walk and she just said, ‘I’ll do that with you next year,” said Callahan. “She volunteered to do it and when this year rolled around, I wasn’t sure, but she is definitely all in and training.”
With the addition of Towse came the idea for another fundraising effort in leading up to the marathon walk in October. Towse and Callahan will be hosting the “This and That Quarter Auctions” on Wednesday July 30 at 6 p.m. at East Mountain Country Club. Callahan grew up in Westfield and Towse has family in the city.
A family friendly event to raise money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the event will feature items from Ember’s Resin Art and Jewelry, Avon with Patti, Riverside Embroidery, Husky Crafters, Scentsy and many more local businesses. This event will also feature a Chinese raffle with many donated items from local businesses.
The bar and grill will be open and anyone interested in donating an item for the raffle can contact Callahan at 9ball811@gmail.com.
With this new idea, Callahan brainstormed a second additional fundraiser leading to the marathon walk as she will be hosting a tag sale fundraiser during West Springfield’s citywide tag sale the weekend of Aug. 1-3. The tag sale will take place at 655 Morgan Rd. in West Springfield.
“There have been many people donating items to that for the past few weeks. It will be quite big, and every penny made will go to Dana Farber,” said Callahan. “Folks can shop for a cause at our tag sale.”
Callahan said these fundraising events will hopefully raise more money toward their $3,000 goal for Dana Farber but will also help spread the word about these efforts from her and Towse.
“It turned out over one week, so we are excited for a good stretch,” said Callahan said of the additional fundraiser events.
Callahan said she and Towse have been training and walking almost every day in preparation as she learned the hard way after completing the walk last year that maybe some additional training could take off the burden of the big day.
“I believe it’s going to be so much better to have somebody to walk with. It’ll be completely different than it was for me last year,” added Callahan.
Callahan, who was consulted and treated through Dana Farber, said she used her diagnosis as motivation in doing what she could to help raise money for cancer research.
“I wanted to be strong, I really did. I had gone through a lot, and I just wanted to be strong. I had this opportunity,” said Callahan of her efforts. “There is no reason why people should get cancer. That is why we have to find a cure for it and if we want to find a cure for it, we have to put money into it especially with what people who are in charge of the government are doing right now with cancer research. Money’s being taken away from cancer research right now, so the private entities need to step up to make a difference and its places like Dana Farber.”
To support Team Callahan and donate directly visit tinyurl.com/2jx8m9vc or join them for the quarter auction and tag sale in the coming weeks.
“I’m gonna walk the 27 miles and do these benefits and I hope to God people show up. They have an opportunity to win a lot of great stuff,” added Callahan. “I just like to work to help find a cure for cancer. I would like to generate a lot of money to help Dana Farber continue being Dana Farber because they are awesome.”
