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Mostly Cloudy How 14-year old Sea Cliff-resident Simon Kletter raised over $5,000 for cancer research
Sea Cliff is popularly known as the “Village of Volunteers” due to its residents’ avid participation in fundraising and community improvement efforts. Simon Kletter, an eighth grader at North Shore Middle School, proved this true on May 28 when he raised over $4,000 for cancer research.
The 14-year old was inspired by the memory of his grandmother, Maureen Kletter, who died of cancer during the pandemic. An avid woodworker for the last two years, Simon says that his grandmother’s lifelong love of art — primarily painting and sculpting — helped inspire him to offer some of his creations in return for donations to raise money for cancer research.
“Since my Nanny just recently had passed away, I wanted to do something for her,” Simon said. “I think the idea just formed, and then I made a flyer and my parents like helped me revise it and finetune everything, and then all of a sudden it felt real.”
The event featured a raffle for several items carved and made by Simon, from birdhouses to cutting boards that were cut, stained and burned (intentionally as part of the creative process) by the young woodcarver. Simon added that his favorite pieces were wooden pens he had first learned to make in shop class, because they were so interesting to put together.
Simon’s father Grant added that during the fundraiser they had also included several art pieces that had been made by his mother, Simon’s grandmother, Maureen. He said they did this both to honor her memory, celebrate her life and passion and to remind everyone what the event was really about — helping to put an end to cancer.
“She was really an amazing artist as long as I can remember, and always did different types of art,” Grant continued. “It was always something that she enjoyed doing, but not professionally. She would give the art to me and my brother, her friends and family members.”
The family chose to donate the funds to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, a major cancer treatment and research center in Uniondale. Maureen had received care at Sloan Kettering, and the family was so impressed with the level of care that the staff provided they knew there was no organization they’d rather support.
After the fundraiser Simon was roughly $500 short of his goal of $5,000.
Then on Sunday, with the help of his friend and classmate Wesley Peterson, Simon was able to reach his goal by making something other than woodworks — pizza. Simon explained that Wesley, who makes pizza as a hobby, wanted to do a pizza sale on Garage Sale Day in the village.
Simon added that he helped Wesley make and sell the pizzas, and when his friend heard he was short of his goal he offered to donate some of the proceeds to help him reach it. Thanks to Wesley, and a few late donations on the website, Simon has now raised over $5,000. But despite this he still hopes to do more and looks forward to holding similar fundraisers in the future.
“I’m really happy that we reached our goal,” Simon said. “The page will stay up and hopefully we can get even more to help people.”
To donate to Simon’s fund, go to: mskcc.convio.net/goto/art show.
