Loveland-Symmes Community Firefighters Association presents check to Team CUREage in fight against Leukemia & Lymphoma

Loveland High School Leukemia & Lymphoma Students of the Year team received $500 during presentation at Symmes Township Trustee Meeting

By: Chuck Gibson

SYMMES TOWNSHIP – Loveland-Symmes Community Firefighters Association presented a check for $500 to Loveland High School students Tuesday evening, February 4, at the Symmes Township Administration building. The students are raising funds and awareness for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society during the annual seven week long Students of the Year program for LLS.

The presentation took place during the regular Township Trustee Meeting. Deputy Fire Chief Jon Frye, Loveland-Symmes Fire Department, presented the check to students Sam Greenberg, Jordan Sovik, and Ben Westley for their LLS-SOY campaign. The fight against Leukemia & Lymphoma is especially meaningful to Frye. He shared his story of being diagnosed with Leukemia in 2014, receiving great support from his fellow firefighters, the community and doctors who performed successful bone marrow transplant surgery. Today he is a most grateful survivor giving back to help the cause.

“Obviously I see the benefits of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society,” said Frye. “I’m here to tell you about it today. We support the Society, not just to take what we needed, but to spread the word about being a match for bone marrow transplant.”

During the drive to find a bone marrow donor for Frye, LSFD Captain Bruce Hawk ended up being a donor for a young child. The Fire Department and Symmes Township and Loveland have shown more support for LLS since Frye received his diagnosis in 2014.  

“I think we’ve learned more about it,” Frye said. “We’re happy that kids today are aware of things going on in the Society. What they’re doing is more than raising money. They’re raising awareness. Our high school kids are becoming more aware of things going on. Becoming aware because people care; that’s important to us.”

The LHS seniors graciously accepted the check from Deputy Fire Chief Frye for their Team CUREage campaign.  Jordan Sovik, acting as spokesperson for Team CUREage, addressed the Township Trustee’s and public on hand. She shared the story of their mission to raise awareness and raise funds for the fight against Leukemia & Lymphoma. She related their personal connection to the cause sharing the story of how the aunt of their teacher was diagnosed with Leukemia and passed away.

 “Thank you, it kind of puts a face to what we are doing,” said Sovik. “A lot of times we can get caught up in just refreshing the button on the website to see how money and the numbers keep going up. I think we have to look at what those numbers are doing and how they contribute to research to finding a cure for Leukemia & Lymphoma and the things we’re fighting for.”

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Team CUREage is a little more than halfway through the seven-week long LLS- Students of the Year campaign. Several more fundraising events are planned before the campaign concludes. Tuesday evening they were thankful for the generosity of the Loveland-Symmes Community Firefighters Association and especially to Deputy Fire Chief Jon Frye.

“Everyone wants to win, but I think when you look at it in the grand scheme of things, the amount of support we’ve received from the community and the people we see who have gone through this and gotten healthy from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society shows what we’re doing isn’t just a number on a screen, but actually is going to help people,” Sovik said. “That gives us a lot of motivation, as we get to the halfway point, to keep believing in the power of the social media we’re using to get the word out.”