03/06/2026
This past Wednesday, we got to launch a new Sparrow Project at Pilot Butte Middle School, in Bend, for a sweet, yet strong and courageous, 11-year-old girl named Ivry. Ivry has been fighting for her life against cancer since 2023. She endured over a year of aggressive treatment, only for it to return once again. She'll be spending the next several months in Portland receiving chemotherapy, radiation, and preparing for a bone transplant.
Our goal was to launch this assembly for Ivry before she left so she could be sent off knowing that her entire school was behind her and that she was not alone in her battle. Let me just say this...the students at Pilot Butte understood the assignment! Many were decked out in pink (Ivry's favorite color), glitter, and western wear (Ivry is a cowgirl at heart)...small and sincere visual gestures of their support. But it didn't stop there. Students were silent as Ivry's story was shared...many sets of eyes welling up with tears. The assembly ended with a bang...loud cheers, applause, chants...a tidal wave of support.
The middle school years can be tough years for any kid, let alone a young girl who is fighting a disease that has physically altered how she feels and looks. And yet, Ivry stood in front of hundreds of her peers, bravely choosing to be transparently vulnerable...not just for herself, but in hopes that her story would give other kids the strength to fight through hard things they are facing.
It's what happened after the assembly still lingers with me...
- a 7th grade boy approaching me to thank me for being there. With tears in his eyes, he tells me that he lost his mother just 3 weeks ago. Having the opportunity to help Ivry is going to help him in his own grief. He let me give him a hug and I can still feel him hugging me back.
- a 6th grade boy, wearing a very large cowboy hat, enthusiastically running up to me asking if he can give Ivry $1000 that he had saved up at home. I praised his generous and kind heart. He told me, "Oh, I have the money...don't you worry about that!" I told him I believed him, but that I wanted him to have a conversation with his parents about this first ;) I was chuckling, but I was so deeply moved by the compassion and selflessness in this boy's heart.
- an 8th grade girl nervously approaching me, with tears running down her cheeks, telling me she felt so strongly about helping Ivry because she has experienced losing loved ones. She decided during the assembly that she was going to change the focus of her 8th grade project to make it all about Ivry in order to hopefully generate more support.
I could go on, but this post is already long enough. Here's my point: Yes, this assembly was about students helping Ivry...but this assembly was ALSO about Ivry helping her fellow students. Students are giving Ivry a sense of peace and support...Ivry is giving her fellow students a sense of deep purpose, and so much more. THIS is what I love most about the Sparrow Clubs program...it invites EVERYONE and ANYONE to wade into the deep waters of compassion and service, changing not only those who receive, but also those who give. I just love being in the presence of young lives being changed for the better!
To end this post, I want to sincerely thank our Central Oregon Community Club Sponsors who make experiences like these happen for the youth in our communities: Central Oregon Radiology Associates, P.C. Pahlisch Homes Inc. BASX, Summit Health Oregon, PacificSource Health Plans, Kendall Toyota of Bend, COPA (Central Oregon Pediatric Associates), Mountain View Heating Inc., SunWest Builders.,and The Weitzman Family Foundation.
