By MAGGIE MCMURRAY
Moapa Valley Progress
The community came out last Saturday to support one of their own, even though she has moved away.
Summer Simmons Turpin grew up in Moapa Valley and graduated from Moapa Valley High School. Recently, some of her classmates and friends learned that Summer’s young 7-month-old daughter, Amber, has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.
Amber’s parents had noticed that she was having trouble breathing. A subsequent doctor visit and x-rays showed a mass growing in Amber’s chest. The tumor proved to be a rare form of cancer called Pleuropulmonary Blastoma.
Even at her young age, Amber has already gone through surgeries to remove the tumor and some aggressive chemotherapy treatment. Due to the rare nature of Amber’s cancer, doctors are still deciding the best way to proceed as Amber’s treatments continue.
Although Summer has moved to Payson, Utah, her former classmates Cassie Munford and Taylor Woodford, learned of her struggles and knew they wanted to help.
“Summer used to live here and when I read her story, it broke my heart,” Munford said. “I know the valley is great at coming together and supporting each other and I knew there was some way we could help.”
The two decided that the best way they could show their hometown support from miles away was to hold a community fundraiser for the Turpin family. Since both women have successful direct sales companies, they decided to have a special sales event where a portion of their sales from that event would be donated to the Turpin family. They invited several other local company owners to also join them for the day.
The fundraiser was held on Saturday morning at the Overton Fire Station #74. In addition to Munford’s Lularoe clothing booth and Woodford’s Paparazzi jewelry booth, there was also a Maskcara Makeup booth with Kayla Culler, a Younique makeup booth with Andrea Smith, and a Dot Dot Smile dress booth with Jenna Rhude. All of this made it a great place for people to come and do some early Christmas or fall fashion shopping.
Andrea Smith, of Moapa, said that she agreed to come and have a booth because, “I thought it was a great cause. I think that helping families in need is a great way to help the community as a whole.”
Kayla Culler agreed, but also had a personal reason for being there. “Summer and I went to high school together and I thought this was a great way to help out since I don’t live near her,” she said. “I know from personal experience the hardships that cancer can bring to a family and I know that any support helps.”
Shoppers were few at first due to the busy morning. But things picked up as earlier events finished and members of the community were able to come and show support.
Candice Mayo came with her daughter Dakotah and her mother Anita Shanahan. “I thought this was a great opportunity to come and support a great cause, Mayo said. “I wanted to help the Turpins out and this was one way I could show support for them.”
Berdette Clark and her daughter Marley also came to support the cause. “We heard about it and wanted to come out and support,” she said. “My husband also has cancer and I just can’t imagine how hard it must be for that mother to watch her baby go through it.”
In addition to the proceeds from the sales event, Munford and Woodford gathered many donations from community individuals and businesses for a raffle. Tickets were sold at $5 apiece with 100% of the raffle proceeds going to the Turpin family. Local and regional businesses were generous in their support, a fact that touched the group, and the raffle was very successful. There was a wide variety of donations that included free products, food, hair care, gift certificates, goodie bags, a quilt, and many other items.
At the end of the day, the group was able to earn almost $3,000 to go to the Turpin family. Woodford and Munford were grateful for the community support and the success of the day.
“I grew up with Summer and I just couldn’t imagine how I would feel if that was my kid,” Woodford said. “We really appreciate the help and support we’ve had from the community. The businesses were so great when we asked them for donations and really went above and beyond. We ended up with a great raffle, thanks to them. We also appreciate our friends who brought their booths and spent the day with us and the community for supporting us and coming out and shopping and buying raffle tickets. It’s always heartwarming to see our community come together and support each other.”
