Jeneece Edroff

Jeneece Edroff a true hero. She rose over $4 million for charity. Do you know who Jeneece Edroff is? Jeneece is a girl that lives in British Columbia, Canada. She was diagnosed with a disease called Neurofibromatosis which causes tumors to grow inside your body in nerve pathways. People say that she was the first person in Canada to be treated with Thalidomide, and the first person ever to be treated by it now. It was mostly used in the 1960's.

When she first sat up they had to put a rod and many screws in her to stabilize her back. When she was 3 they had to put her in a body brace to support her spine. When she was 5 she had surgery on her spine to correct her spine's curvature. When she was 7 she decided to give back the medical costs. So she started a penny drive at her school, Northridge Elementary. She raised 164 dollars. She decided that was not enough. She decided next year she would try to do another penny drive. For this penny drive she hired news casters to cast her penny drive on the news. On that fundraiser she earned more than 27,000 dollars. She decided to do a penny drive every year. She earned more than 8 million dollars for the BC Neurofibromatosis Foundation. She also raised money by selling flowers at a bake sale. She also sold 2 pieces of art for 300.00 dollars each to raise money too.

Her biggest dream came true! To raise 5.5 million dollars to build a "home away from home" for families that travel to Victoria, BC to have medical care. The house has 10 bedrooms. Each bedroom has their own TV, bathroom, and telephone. Raising enough money to build a house is amazing for an 8-9 year old.

She also went to many camps. She attended Easter Seal's Camp Shawnigan, which is for kids with disabilities. Guess what she did for that camp? She raised money. She would go outside and sell hotdogs and pop for 8-10 hours a day! She also went to another camp called Camp Good Times, which is a camp for kids with cancer and have some of the life experiences as her, like having a body brace. She raised money for that too. She sold hotdogs again for that fundraiser.

I think Jeneece is heroic because she performed many fundraisers and has inspired many people and she is strong and she stays positive even the doctors told her she has a very high chance of getting cancer and because she shaved off her hair to raise money which takes bravery to shave your hair so I think she is also brave. Jeneece is known as "Penny Girl" now. A 15 year old student inspired by Jeneece's effort from Belmont has decided to fundraise and has raised over 20,000 dollars! Many people have decided to follow in her footsteps by helping her raise money including kids, schools, organizations, businesses, and government officials. Jeneece really is a hero.