AYJ Fund Event Raises Over $10K for Children With Cancer By Brittany Polito, iBerkshires Staff
01:20AM / Monday, June 28, 2021 | |
 AYJ Fund holds a fundraiser at Balderdash Cellars in Richmond. |
Anna Yan Ji Arabia
RICHMOND, Mass. — A local fund for children with cancer raised $10,500 at a winery event about a week ago.
The June 18 fundraiser was held by the AYJ Fund of North Adams at Balderdash Winery. Around 175 people gathered in support of the cause.
"This community is very special," the fund's Executive Director Kathy Arabia said. "And when people understand how great the need is, people, step up to the plate, it makes a huge, major difference in the lives of these kids and their family."
AYJ Fund was founded by Kathy and Joe Arabia in honor of their daughter Anna Yan Ji Arabia, who passed away from a rare brain cancer called gliomatosis cerebri in 2013. She battled cancer bravely for 3 1/2 years before passing at the age of 16 on Valentine's Day.
The mission of the all-volunteer organization is to bring smiles to kids with cancer, keep them connected to friends and school through technology, and find a cure for gliomatosis cerebri and other brain tumors.
The event raised $3,500 in ticket sales and the remainder was from generous donors who were touched by the Arabia’s story. Balderdash put together a raffle for the cause and Michael Fabrizio provided musical entertainment.
"It was absolutely wonderful," Arabia said. "It was such a great evening because there were so many people there, a number of people that we knew, and a number of people that we met that evening, people came over to us and talked about their stories with cancer."
Anna Arabia was born in China and adopted by Joe and Kathy at 9 months old. She enjoyed many things in life including friends, technology, theatre, and music.
At the time of her diagnosis at the age of 13, her family found it unacceptable that there was no research being done on this type of brain tumor and there has been no effective treatment or cure.
Because of this, the Arabias made it a mission to both raise awareness for the illness and help fund its research. The AYJ Fund has three programs: a smiles program, a connections program, and a cures program.
"The research we support is brain cancer research, but the children that we help, it’s for all kinds of cancer," Arabia added.
They usually hold three or four events a year, including ones with wine and chocolate and with craft beer.
"I grew up in Boston, so we also do the same fundraiser there," Arabia said. "And we also have done each year, other than the pandemic, a corn hole tournament. We get local sponsors, similar to a golf tournament, we get gold and silver sponsors from local community members, business owners, and community members. We had done mini-golf tournaments until the North Adams mini-golf place had closed and we started doing corn hole and that ended up being really popular."
In August, local cancer fighter Nick Murach is hosting a golf tournament at Stamford (Vt.) Valley Golf Course to raise funds for children with cancer through the AYJ Fund.
Though not a large organization, the fund's reach is global. In 2017, fund was a lead sponsor for the 2nd International Gliomatosis Cerebri Conference that was held at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.
"Since we started the fund, Kathy, via the internet, connected with other families, in particular France and Spain, in Europe, who are doing the same thing," Assistant Director Joe Arabia said. "And we have grown to be a global collaborative organization, with partners in Europe, and in the United States so that we have been able to fund international research conferences."
With all of the challenges that kids affected by cancer go through, the couple said they want to try and brighten their days a little bit with a smile while funding research so that other children don’t have to go through what these children are going through.
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