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Community Corner

Field Day Benefit Planned for Student with Cancer

The event is scheduled for Aug. 13 (rain date Aug. 14) from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Kennedy Field.

A field day fundraiser for an East Haven High School student with cancer promises to offer plenty of family fun for a good cause.

Proceeds from the field day will benefit Rebecca Brainerd, who was diagnosed in May with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Tom DeMatteo, who was Rebecca’s softball coach in the Foxon Recreation League, said the event will take place on Aug. 13 (rain date Aug. 14) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Kennedy Field on Maple Street, "which is also known as the Pit."

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The organizers are planning for a good turnout. "We’re hoping for 300, 400 or even 500 people," he said.

Rebecca, who is undergoing cancer treatment, will be there if her doctors say it’s OK, DeMatteo said.

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"We’re doing this fundraiser for her and her family," he said.

DeMatteo said Rebecca, who turned 15 on July 4, has been close friends with his own daughter since kindergarten, as well as playing on the softball team he coached. "It kind of hits home," he said.

When they learned she was sick, Rebecca’s friends at East Haven High School sold 600 plastic bracelets at school for $2 each to raise money for her. Jaime Marcucci, Pamela Masella and Aimee Ouellet, who organized the school fundraising drive, said they also wanted to show their friend she wasn’t alone.

The girls are also planning a fundraiser car wash for her on Aug. 20 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Foxon Fire House.

Dematteo said there are plenty of activities planned for the field day, including a motorcycle poker run competition from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Motorcyclists register for $10 on the day of the event to run a course and pick up playing cards along the way. After all the cyclists are done, the one whose cards make up the best poker hand wins.

Other activities will include girls’ and boys’ home run derbies, a basketball foul shot competition for children and adults, a dunking tank, karaoke, water balloon tosses, lots of food, a bake sale, a kids’ zone with face painting and other fun activities for younger children, and raffle prizes, including a 14-16 pound lobster.

The sponsors are the Foxon Recreation League, Forsa Team Sports, and the Knights of Columbus, Columbian Squires and the Youth Group from Our Lady of Pompeii Church.

"We have fliers everywhere," DeMatteo said, and he is also advertising it on Facebook.

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