Youth organizes fourth fundraiser

Tuesday, June 20, 2017
Paige Hertzberg takes a peach cobbler out of the oven. It will available at the bake sale Thursday.
Gabe Franklin

Paige Hertzberg will host her fourth annual charity bake sale and lemonade stand in front of Hertzberg’s Furniture at 116 E. Cherry St. from noon until 3 p.m. Thursday afternoon.

“She’s a pretty caring kid,” Paige’s mom Amy Hertzberg said.

Paige, 11, held her first bake sale and lemonade stand in 2014 to raise money for Community Outreach. She raised $300.

Paige Hertzberg wearing a hat and scarf made by Dawn Jones.
Gabe Franklin

In 2015, she raised $500 for Backpacks for Love and last year, 2016, she raised more than $1,000 for Vernon County Cancer Relief.

“It grows every year,” Hertzberg said.

Paige said she hopes to raise more than that this year for Clara Hemphill.

Three-year-old Clara is the daughter of Amy and Richard Hemphill and was diagnosed in February with a rare condition called Fanconi Anemia. The money Paige’s bake sale and lemonade stand raises will help pay Clara’s medical expenses.

Amy Hemphill said, “Fanconi Anemia enables the body to produce the protein responsible for repairing DNA and damaged cells. This affects all systems and is very complex. One thing it affects is the bone marrow, Clara has been classified as severe bone marrow failure and it is considered a pre-leukemic state. Right now [bone marrow transplant] is on hold since her numbers are manageable because BMT is very complicated for a FA person. We will have to make annual trips to Cincinnati for head-to-toe scans and a bone marrow biopsy. We have biweekly draws to check levels, and she is always at risk of a sickness and with any fever we could end up in the ER. Right now she is doing great, for where her numbers are at.”

Asked how it feels to be able to help Clara, Paige said, “very very good.”

This year’s bake sale and lemonade stand will feature a variety of baked items including chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, cinnamon rolls, a peach cobbler, muffins and other delicacies from the Hertzbergs and other donors, lemonade and hand knitted crafts from Dawn Jones.

“People have already been giving,” Paige said.

As of Tuesday, she had already received $150 in donations.

“It’s a good life lesson for Paige,” Amy Hertzberg said. “We’ve seen a lot of people in this town have really big hearts.”

While Paige is not close to Clara, her parents have talked about her.

“We’ve prayed a lot for them,” Amy Hertzberg said.

“She is always going out of her way to help everyone else,” Amy Hertzberg said of Amy Hemphill. “I think it is nice to be able to help her and her family.”

Even Paige’s little brother Parker will be helping this year.

Anyone wanting to donate can visit Hertzburg’s Furniture at 116 E. Cherry St. or call Amy Hertzberg at 448-5771.

“Even though doctors tell us it is incurable, I know God has healed her, for my God is King!” Amy Hemphill said.

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