By AMANDA HOFFMANN
Caroline Bert, 14, an OHS student, teamed up with her best friend Victoria Stewart, 14, who goes to Long Beach High School, to make bracelets to raise money for breast cancer research after the girl's aunt, Barbara Ried, who lives in Island Park and is a kindergarten teacher there, was diagnosed with the disease in 2006. Reid went through chemotherapy from 2006 to 2007 and is currently in her second cancer-free year.
"We always liked making bracelets, and we wanted to find a way to help people," said Caroline, "so we decided to sell the bracelets."
The girls recruited Melanie Bert, 10, Caroline's younger sister after Melanie offered to help and stayed up until nearly 4 a.m. with them crafting bracelets before they opened shop - a corner table at the Long Island Exchange in Island Park - for the first time during the summer.
"Because I helped so much and stayed up so late, they said I could be in it," said Melanie. "Anything you do can make a difference, from one penny to five dollars. It can make a difference and count."
Victoria and Caroline said it typically takes them a little less than an hour to weave embroidery floss into a friendship bracelet, which sells for $1. They also sell rubber bangles, $3 each, that encapsulate the entire project with the words, "Because Barbara was brave." Caroline said they have raised a little more than $250 in the year and a half they have been making and selling bracelets.
"We are waiting to raise more money before we donate it," said Victoria. "We want to get around $500, then we'll donate it and start it up again."
Caroline said the girls will likely make their donation in October at the next breast cancer walk-a-thon, but until then they hope to continue raising cash.
"I hope the money we raise will help them to find a cure," said Victoria.
The girls said they will often sell bracelets to friends and sometimes bring them to sporting events to sell to teammates.
"Usually people know we sell the bracelets so they will ask to see them and buy them," Caroline said. During the summer the girls placed signs around an antique shop owned by Glenn Bert, Caroline and Melanie's father, in Island Park, with a table and section called "Caroline's Corner" dedicated to bracelet sales.
"I'm very proud of Caroline. She always looks to do the right thing," said her father. "People in the store who saw it thought they were really good kids and it made me proud."
Ried said she was surprised when the girls approached her about their plan to create bracelets in her name to raise cash to help find a cure for breast cancer.
"When I had cancer, I cried all of two times," said Ried. "The first time when I had to take a leave of absence from Francis Hegarty, where I work. The second time was when the kids did this.
"I thought it was so sweet when I saw them do this for me - in my name - it was so touching," said Ried, who credits her family, friends and faith for helping her through the diagnosis and treatment. "It really means something. They are young kids, and to do something like that is amazing."
Since her diagnosis, Ried said, she has met with other Island Park residents to talk about cancer and ways to cope.
"Until you really go through it, you don't know what it's like," she said. "I tell them it's not so bad. You get through [chemo], it's something you have to do. The good days, you do whatever you can and before you know it, it's over."
For more information, check out the Facebook group, "Because Barbara was brave."
Comments about this story? AHoffmann@
liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 269
