Ten-year-old girl, after watching family battle breast cancer, raises $1,000 by selling handmade bracelets

A local sixth-grader has turned a creative pastime into a way to raise more than $1,000 to support breast cancer patients – all without leaving her neighborhood on Middle Road.

Bored of watching television one afternoon, Kayla Reitz was sifting through her collection of colorful rubber bands to craft a loom bracelet when her mother suggested she make one for her aunt, who is currently battling breast cancer.

“That’s when I thought of it,” Kayla said. “I wanted to make them to raise money for breast cancer.”

Breast cancer has been present in Kayla’s life for several years now. One of Kayla’s aunts is currently in remission from the disease, and another was just recently diagnosed. One of Kayla’s friends has a mother with breast cancer, and a close family friend is a 20-year survivor.

“It’s something that she’s been very aware of,” said Shannon Reitz, her mother.

But Reitz was still taken aback when her 10-year-old daughter asked to start selling her homemade bracelets at the end of their driveway. Kayla had never fundraised in this way before, and making rainbow loom bracelets had always been something she did just for fun.

So together, mother and daughter researched breast cancer organizations online to find a recipient for Kayla’s fundraiser. They decided on the National Breast Cancer Foundation, which had a website where Kayla could make a page to track her fundraising progress and accept donations.

Over the next week and a half, after long days at Pulaski Street School and cheerleading practices with PAL, Kayla spent many hours sitting over her plastic loom, weaving colorful rubber bands into a variety of patterned bracelets. “She worked avidly on making them,” Reitz said. “She must have spent a solid three days on it.”

She recruited a friend from the neighborhood – April, who is also in sixth grade – to help make them.

And last Saturday, Kayla and April delivered handmade flyers colored with markers to every mailbox in their neighborhood at Two Bears off of Middle Road.

But nothing could have prepared them for how popular their bracelets were come Sunday, when they set up a table with a checkered pink tablecloth at the end of Kayla’s driveway.

“I was very surprised,” Kayla said. “Everyone wanted them.”

Simpler bracelets that took less time to make were sold for $1, and bracelets with more complex patterns – which could take her up to an hour to create – were sold for a few dollars more. Custom orders, which Kayla would weave right at the table, sold for up to $10.

“She sat out there for two and a half hours, waving down every car that passed by,” Reitz said. By the time they were finished, they had sold 50 bracelets and raised more than $200.

But that was just the beginning. Friends and family who couldn’t make it to Kayla’s big driveway sale began donating money on her webpage on the National Breast Cancer Association website. And as Kayla’s story began to spread, strangers began donating money, too.

By Thursday afternoon, Kayla had raised more than $1,000 for the organization.

“We’re very thankful for all the supporters,” Reitz said, “friends, family, and even strangers at this point. We’re very thankful to everyone for getting involved.”

As for Kayla, she plans to continue making bracelets and selling them for a cause that has affected many in her life.

“I learned from this that it’s important to think of other people and not just yourself,” Kayla said.

Photos courtesy of Shannon Reitz.