North East Vets Club Raises Over $20,000 for Mollie Mae Turner
Each year VFW Post 4789 puts together a motorcycle ride, Amy's Ride, to honor Amy Marzka, who was a member of the Vets Club.
"We lost Amy a couple years after she got brain cancer," said Edward Buterbaugh, Amy's Ride coordinator.
To remember Marzka, members donate and collect money from around the area and choose someone battling cancer to give the money to.
This year they chose 14-year-old Mollie Mae Turner, who was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in February.
They wanted to donate at least $20,000 dollars to Mollie and thanks to many different organizations and people, that is just what they did.
"The North East Athletic Club and the North East Vets Club here at the VFW were our hosts and both did matching donations, then we had the Eagles Club out in Wattsburg donate $1,000 and we had a bunch of businesses in town that donated and that is how we raised the money," Buterbaugh said.
State Representative Jake Banta was at the event and challenged Mollie to get $500 and if she did, he would shave his head.
She raised that and more.
"It felt pretty awesome because Mollie is awesome," Banta said.
As far as the money goes, Buterbaugh predicts that Mollie will use it for her education.
"Anything over $20,000 is a very large amount of money but she has her own bank account and I think she is going to save the money for college," Buterbaugh said.