The Catskill Chronicle

Compiled by and Photos by Leni Santoro

ELDRED – So far there are over 600 hand-holding paper dolls encircling the top of the walls acting as a paper doll frieze, just under the picture molding, in The Corner’s ice cream shop cafe. Each doll represents a $1 donation to the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. Though small in stature themselves, the dolls represent the generosity of those whose big hearts are overflowing with concern for the needs of both childhood cancer researchers, doctors and their young patients.

At The Corner in Eldred the dolls create a "frieze of care" along the picture molding.

Lou Monteleone, radio personality at Thunder 102 FM and manager at the Eldred Preserve and The Corner in Eldred launched the Line of Hope Paper Doll Campaign in an effort to raise awareness and funds for kids with cancer. The proceeds from the fundraising campaign will benefit the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a non-profit organization that raises money for childhood cancer research.

The idea for the paper dolls came from the line dance that was done in August.

“I always had this thing about large groups of people getting together. Whether you’re holding hands or you’re in a line doing something, I just feel the power in quantities of people really sets an example,” said Monteleone.

The funds are needed by St. Baldrick’s whose work includes research into cures for childhood cancers, explained Monteleone.

“But, it’s also about teaching kids, getting kids involved [in helping other kids], giving them some purpose of feeling good, because they will after they participate, when they make the dolls,” said Monteleone.

The dolls can be personalized in any number of ways.

After holding the Longest Line Dance and Conga Against Cancer in August, Monteleone felt he wanted to keep going with raising funds for St. Baldrick’s, but how? Paper dolls could be answer.

“I just thought that the symbolism is in holding hands,” he said. “You know these kids [with cancer], what they go through every day, and the families are battling, too. I thought that by making the paper dolls, personalizing them and having them holding hands in a line, that it could be a symbolic thing just as much as a monetary thing.

Dolls can be purchased for a $1 donation and are then added to the Line of Hope, which currently numbers 675 paper dolls in total. Hundreds of paper dolls holding “paper hands” encircle the interior walls of the ice cream shop, The Corner in Eldred.

After the Longest Line Dance and Conga Against cancer the folks at St. Baldrick's requested T-shirts for themselves, then sent these special "trout" thank-yous to Monteleone who is known locally as The Lord of the Trout.

“I firmly believe that if we all do a little…a lot will be done. Nothing is more powerful than people holding hands in solidarity for something they believe in. This is the symbolism I envisioned when I came up with this idea,” said Monteleone, whose line dance and conga line fundraiser for St. Baldrick’s in August, raising more than $2,000 for the foundation.

He is also encouraging schools and children’s organizations to join in the fun and make a difference.

Paper dolls can be purchased at the ice cream shop located at the Four Corners in Eldred, or by emailing lineofhope@hvc.rr.com or contacting Monteleone at (845) 557-8316. Donors can also color or draw in embellishments for their paper doll before sending it in to join the Line of Hope. Dolls that are received from other parts of the United States will have their city and state noted on the doll’s feet.

Donations to St. Baldrick’s can also be made at Lou Monteleone’s page on the St. Baldrick’s website.

Can’t wait to participate, click these links, print and create your dolls and send them with your donation to Lou Monteleone, c/o The Eldred Preserve, PO Box 111, Eldred, NY 12732.

Paper dolls 1, Paper Dolls 2

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About St. Baldrick’s

St. Baldrick’s donors and volunteers made possible over $11.5 million in funding for childhood cancer research in 2009, so far! More grants will be made in the fall.

• Research grants are focused on finding new and better cures for childhood cancer.
• St. Baldrick’s Fellows are new doctors training to specialize in pediatric oncology research, funded for 2-3 years. From 2005 to 2009, 35 St. Baldrick’s Fellows have been funded.
• St. Baldrick’s Scholars are pursuing exciting research, funded for 3 years or more. Because grant funds are so scarce, it is difficult for those early in their careers to compete with more established researchers. These grants keep new researchers focused on childhood cancer. From 2008-2009, 20 St. Baldrick’s Scholars have been funded.
• Infrastructure grants help institutions treat more kids on clinical trials (their best hope for a cure), or provide resources to make more research possible (to be made in the fall).
• Multi-institution grants include the cooperative research and laboratories of the 200-member Children’s Oncology Group, as well as consortiums of institutions working on pediatric brain tumors, neuroblastoma, and bone marrow transplants for childhood cancer patients.
• Foreign beneficiaries receive funds raised by St. Baldrick’s events held in their countries.

St. Baldrick’s Foundation is grateful to its many volunteers (bald or not!), donors and sponsors, including Allied World, elope and PartnerRe. For more information about St. Baldrick’s, please call 1-888-899-BALD or visit www.StBaldricks.org.

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