RCCT Fundraiser for Cure JM

As many of you may know Lake and Kaysa are involved with the Red Carpet Community Theatre in Elk City. When they found out about Kya they wanted to do something to help out.

They have an acting troop that has been working on a play called 1000 Cranes. They will be performing it on Friday, March 27th at 7:30 p.m. at the Red Carpet Community Theatre. All proceeds will go to Cure JM Foundation in honor of Kya.

I think they said the play is only about 35 minutes long. They are going to try to have an auction or silent auction that night also to raise more money. I will post more information as I find it out.

Please mark your calendars and plan to attend or donate to this wonderful foundation. We know that it is with people like this that we will find a cure for Kya. Below is a little bit of information about the play.

A Thousand Cranes is based on the true story of Sadako, a young girl born in Hiroshima during World War II. When the play opens Sadako is training for a foot race with her best friend Kenji. Two years older than she, Kenji acts much like a brother and coach. Although he playfully teases Sadako about being as slow as a turtle, he assures her that she will win the upcoming race. Excited, Sadako rushes home to tell her parents of Kenji’s predicted outcome, but she must calm herself and behave with the proper respect before they will hear her news. That night, Sadako’s mother and father are preparing for Oban, the Japanese celebration of the ancestors. They explain to their daughter that this is a time to remember the ancestors who have died, and they will be lighting a special candle in remembrance of Oba chan, Sadako’s grandmother who was killed when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Though she was very young, Sadako remembers her grandmother, and the bomb. She wonders if her grandmother can see her when she runs. The next day, Sadako and Kenji are again training until Sadako trips and falls. She thinks she is okay but when she tries to stand she feels dizzy. Sadako’s parents take her to a doctor and she is diagnosed with "radiation sickness," or leukemia, a result of the radiation from the bombing. She wonders how she could be sick when the bomb was so very long ago. Sadako is too sick to run in the race, so Kenji comes to visit her in the hospital. He folds a gold paper crane for her as a gift and reminds her of the old Japanese myth that claims if a sick person folds 1,000 paper cranes the gods will grant her wish and make her healthy again. Hopeful, Sadako sets out on a new race to fold 1,000 cranes. Unfortunately, she becomes too sick to complete the task. Grandmother Oba chan comes as a spirit to lead Sadako to the home of the ancestors. There, Sadako meets many others who were harmed by the bomb and her Grandmother tells her she must stay there with her. Sadako pleads to go back and finish folding her cranes but Grandmother Oba chan tells her it is better to leave them for others to finish. Kenji and Sadako’s other classmates do finish Sadako’s cranes and make a wish of their own. In memory of Sadako, the children create a monument to their friend in Hiroshima Peace Park, inscribed with their common wish: "This is our cry, This is our prayer, Peace in the World."