Evergreen Student Organizes Fundraiser for Epilepsy Foundation

It's been a work of heart this past month as student and Perkiomen Township resident Meaghan Burke, 10, organized a fundraiser for the Epilepsy Foundation of Eastern Pennsylvania.

Meaghan's cousin and best friend Grace, 13, has epilepsy, and while the Burke family has participated in events to raise money for the cause, last month during the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, Meaghan had the idea to spearhead her own effort.

She decided to have a tea event because it was "a fun idea," and she found a willing host in the Lederach Tea Room. With the tea's three sponsors -- Budget Maintenance, Dynamic Landscaping and L2 Partridge Architecture -- Meaghan had already raised $1,200, and then spots for the event sold out about a week before its date -- Sunday, Feb. 26. About 60 people were expected to attend; tickets were $25 per adult and $10 per child, but a child and adult could get the combined ticket price of $30.

While Meaghan hopes to raise about $2,000 for the foundation, she also wants to raise awareness about epilepsy.

"When we went around to different places (for hosts and donors for the event), everybody had somebody who had epilepsy," said Meaghan's mom, Michelle. "But because there’s a stigma attached to epilepsy, a lot of times not everyone talks about it," she said.
Michelle said people think of epilepsy as "this one big seizure," but there are variances. Grace, for example, has "absence seizures," which "are lapses of awareness, sometimes with staring, that begin and end abruptly, lasting only a few seconds. There is no warning and no after-effect," according to the Epilepsy Foundation website. As a result, sometimes Grace's teachers think she's daydreaming when these seizures occur, Michelle said.

Sometimes Grace's peers also misunderstand her, Meaghan said.
"She does horseback riding and a lot of people make fun of her. I don’t know why, though. They should help her and not make fun of her," Meaghan said.
If she could talk to the bullies, "I would tell them, 'People with epilepsy, they aren’t that different. The only thing that’s different is they have epilepsy and they have seizures. You should help them instead of bullying them.'"

Michelle credits Meaghan with her sensitivity to Grace's condition. The medication Grace takes "affects several aspects of life, and Meaghan helps her by understanding it’s not her (Grace), it’s the medication."
Meaghan remembers when Grace couldn't have sugar because she was on the ketogenic diet to help manage her seizures, so Meaghan decided to forego eating her own Easter candy that year.

As Meaghan and her family have worked to make this fundraiser a reality, they've been thrilled to find support from local businesses that have donated gift cards or items to the event.
Michelle credits Wawa for not only donating to the tea fundraiser, but also donating a cream to children on the ketogenic diet. With the diet's strict limits, Grace could drink only a particular that is carried by only Wawa, Michelle said.
Another donor, Floral and Hardy, told Meaghan they'd be willing to participate in this fundraiser if it held next year.

Some of the event's success can be credited to the PR power of Meaghan's little sister Rayna, 5.
"She’ll go up to random people she barely knows and asks if they want to go to the tea. She got 10 people to go and got one lady to donate a door prize," Meaghan said.

Even though Meaghan has a schedule packed with school, softball, Girl Scouts and CCD, she says working on this event has boosted her confidence and she's interested in seeing it grow into an annual event.

If a friend wanted to do something similar but was intimidated by the amount of work, Meaghan would offer the following advice: “I would tell them it is really big, but it’s also a lot of fun.”

Read more about the cause at Walk With Grace.

Sponsors:
• Budget Maintenance (Pottstown)
• Dynamic Landscaping (Langhorne)
• L2 Partridge Architecture (Philadelphia)

Donations:
• Sweet and Sassy (Collegeville)
• Custom Princess Tutus & Hair Bows
• Heart's Desire (Skippack)
• 19 Bella (Skippack)
• (Skippack)
•
• Gwendolynn’s Salon and Spa
•
• Longwood Gardens
• Morris Arboretum
• Taylor Backes Glass Studio (Boyertown)
• California Tortilla
•
• Waltz Golf Farm
• (Skippack)
• Bay Pony Inn
•
• Amazing Blooms
• (Schwenksville)
• Brookside Country Club
•
• Ponytales(Downingtown)
• Silverbox Creative Studio (Lederach)
• King Family
• Kaercher Family
• Catalano Family
• Nancy Kaercher
• Burke Family