Baskets of holiday cheer for cancer victims

COSTA MESA — Students at Orange Coast Middle College High School will brighten up Easter for more than a dozen people this month.

Who those people are, they may never know.

On Wednesday, the school’s student government and Interact Club assembled Easter baskets for 16 local families with members suffering from breast cancer. Students donated toys, games, stuffed animals, candy and more over the last few weeks for Breast Cancer Survivors, a nonprofit organization based in Lake Forest. When it came time to deliver the baskets, however, students had to stay behind — due to the nonprofit’s policy of keeping patients’ identities confidential.

That made little difference to students, who could imagine what their beneficiaries were going through.

“I know adults who have suffered from breast cancer,” said senior Hannah Dean, 17. “I’ve known their children too. It was great to know we could bring joy to them at that time of suffering.”

Middle College’s Interact Club, backed by the recently formed Costa Mesa Rotary Club, launched this year and has performed a number of community service projects — including ones for Working Wardrobes, the Second Harvest Food Bank and Share Our Selves. Advisor Bev McKeehan said the club decided early in the year to give out Easter baskets, but didn’t choose the recipient until shortly before spring break.

Nicolette Emery, the program coordinator for Breast Cancer Survivors, said she was thrilled when McKeehan called with the offer. Families dealing with breast cancer, she noted, found holidays tough for financial as well as emotional reasons.

“A lot of people we work with have been impacted financially by the disease, so they’ve been struggling to pay their bills in general,” Emery said. “A lot of the little nice things get lost.”

None of the families on her target list knew the baskets were coming, she added. She and a group of volunteers planned to distribute them to households around the Newport-Mesa area Wednesday and today.

For McKeehan, whose aunt and best friend died of breast cancer, the project had a special resonance. The students’ donations, she said, far exceeded her expectations.

“The kids here are really community-service-minded,” McKeehan said. “They’re really generous with their time.”