Little Fundraisers Bring in Big Cash for Local Causes
By COURTENAY NEARBURG

Staff photo by Courtenay Nearburg Four Emerald Bay organized a lemonade stand to benefit Christofer Krajec's Miracle Fund last weekend, and then received a donation from their neighborhood Fire Station.

In recent weeks, local kids took to the streets, to their kitchens, to cars and to their own kind, raising funds for causes they identified with and having a lot of fun along the way.

A group of El Morro fifthgraders made a competition out of their philanthropy, pitting four girls from Emerald Bay against three from Three-Arch Bay in a north vs. south race for dollars to benefit the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Canyon.

Meanwhile, Emerald Bay brother-sister teams, the Watsons and the Dahles, set up a lemonade stand last Saturday to raise cash and awareness for Christofer Krajec, a Laguna 3-year-old diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. The lemonade stand drew the attention of firefightersfrom Emerald Bay Station 11, who decided to join the kids by contributing to Christofer's Miracle Fund from their recreational fund.

Staff photo by Courtenay Nearburg Teams of rival El Morro fifth-graders from Emerald Bay and Three Arch Bay present their contribution to the Marine Mammal Center's Melissa Sciacca, top right. From left, Rachel Fredeman, Briana Boyd, Parker Noriega, Mary Kate Quellmalz, Olivia Clark, Audrey Pillsbury, Chloe Jackson and Sabrina Stillwell.

In the north vs. south Laguna competition, the 10 and 11-year-old girls got together and decided that they would like to help the ailing seals and sea lions at the Marine Mammal Center.

Sabrina Stillwell, from Emerald Bay, coordinated with six of her friends to raise money over a period of weeks. The north Laguna team triumphed with $600 from a bake sale, door-to-door solicitation and dog walking.

"We thought it would be fun to raise money and go see all the seals we were helping," Sabrina said. "We walked, like, all these dogs. And we got donations with that."

The Emerald Bay girls also did a bake sale, selling brownies, cookies, lemon cake and cupcakes, earning $250 in a matter of hours. The Three-Arch Bay team set up a lemonade stand, sold cookies, solicited donations and washed cars to raise $490. This Wednesday after school, the seven girls visited the Marine Mammal Center to deliver a check for $1,090.

"I want them to have a direct impact on these animals," Melissa Sciacca, development director of the Mammal Center, said. "The money they raised will go for the specific care of animals and for supplying the basic needs that these animals so critically need, like fishand medication."

The Mammal Center is in its busy season, when seal and sea lion pups are being born. On Wednesday when the El Morro philanthropists visited, the center was housing 22 animals, mostly malnourished elephant seal pups rescued from Orange County beaches. The Mammal Center sends a rescue team out when called by lifeguards, park rangers or Animal Control.

Four younger children from Emerald Bay, neighbors Elsa, 5, and Nils Dahle, 18 months, and Lucas, 5, and Lola Watson, 3, set up a lemonade stand last Saturday, selling cookies and refreshments, raising $1,268 for Christofer's Miracle Fund in only a matter of hours.

Stina Dahle, mother of Elsa and Nils, said the kids did most of the work themselves, making the sign and the lemonade, and really working to get neighbors' attention for Christofer's cause. Dahle heard about Christofer Krajec's illness from her kids' babysitter, who also works as a massage therapist and has been working with Christofer.

Dahle told her neighbors, Gina and Roy Watson, whose children are friends with the Dahle kids. Together, the four children worked the stand with some help from their parents, and attracted the attention of their local firestation, whose senior officerlives near the Dahles.

OfficerDavid Skarman suggested to Station 11 personnel that they join in the effort to help Christofer, making a donation from the recreational fund in the amount of $250. The recreational fund is raised by pancake breakfasts and a 4th of July barbecue the firefightershost every year.

Firefighters' Association Treasurer Jim Waddell presented the $250 check to the four miniature entrepreneurs on Tuesday evening at the firestation. Stina Dahle and Gina Watson both said their eldest children, Elsa and Lucas, understood Christofer's situation to be very serious and and that he is very ill.

"There's not a day that goes by that she doesn't ask me about him," Stina Dahle said of Elsa's charitable efforts on behalf of a child not much younger than she.