Light the Night inspires SVHS seniors

Kaitlin Chipchase decided to skip the homecoming dance this year. And then she convinced her closest friends to do the same thing. But this wasn’t going to be just any old Saturday night. Nope. Instead, the small tribe of girls were still going to dress up and go out on the town. Only this time, instead of dancing, they’d be walking – walking for a cause.

Chipchase will graduate this year from Sonoma Valley High School and for her senior project, she chose to fundraise for the fight against cancer – leukemia specifically, which her father was diagnosed with when she was in eighth grade.
“I wanted to do this for my dad and for everyone fighting cancer. It was a small sacrifice to make a big difference,” said Chipchase.

And rather than be alone, she organized her friends into a tight-knit team who would forgo their last homecoming dance to participate in “Light the Night,” an inspirational 5K walk in downtown Santa Rosa held on October 15 and elsewhere throughout the country

All told, Chipchase raised close to $2900 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through a combination of sources including donations, a car wash and a bake sale. One of the best parts – she and her friends were by far the best dressed there, wearing their homecoming attire yet clad in footwear made for walking.

“We had so much fun. It was so totally worth the sacrifice of not going to homecoming. And I kept thinking that if people didn’t turn out to do things like this, my dad probably wouldn’t be alive today. It was a really important thing to do,” said Chipchase.
For more information, go to lightthenight.org.