By Mary Owen
Austin Jones thinks pink!
The Stayton Intermediate School fifth-grader raised more than $1,500 for breast cancer awareness, tripling the goal he set last year after his best friend’s mother died of the disease.
“She was like a grandma to me, and I saw her at her best and at her worst,” said Austin, 11, of Diane Nye who passed away on July 2.
Of his friend, Gabe, he added, “I saw how much it hurt him to see his mom go through this and just wanted to try and help others so they don’t have to go through what he did.”
Mom, Teresa, and dad, Ty, are very proud of their son.
“This is something he did all on his own,” Teresa Jones said. “Austin would tell us what he needed from us and we would do what he needed. He asked us to send out e-mails and he told us what to say. He went to local businesses in town and gave them a letter asking for donations. He got money from all over!”
People sent Austin money from as far away as Florida, Mississippi, California and even Panama, she said.
“The Nye family is like family to us,” Jones said. “The family helped by letting people know what Austin has been doing.”
They also stopped by Austin’s Hot Cocoa stand outside of Roth’s Family Market, when the stand was open. He was easy to spot, with his trademark pink Mohawk and infectious smile.
“I had my pink Mohawk for two months,” Austin said. “I wanted to see what people would say, and when they did say something, I would ask for donations to breast cancer.”
Austin’s hair recently was green and yellow for the Civil War Game between Oregon State and the University of Oregon.
“Go Ducks!” he said. On a more serious note, he added, “This is my second year doing this. Last year, I raised $180.20 for Santiam Hospital. Diane wanted the money raised to stay local to help women that needed help paying for mammograms. I’m hoping that the hospital will set up a Diane Nye Scholarship fund.”
Valerie Young, director of diagnostic imaging at Santiam Hospital, thinks Austin is fantastic. “This was his own idea,” Young said. “He was feature at our first Breast Cancer Awareness Symposium in October. At that point, he had raised about $150. More donations were made that night.”
Young said the hospital provided goodie bags from the symposium filled with breast cancer awareness items.“We loaded him up with little bags of stuff and send him on his way,” she said.
Austin has handed out the bags, and collected donations from: Stayton Family Mortgage, Hair for All, Deb’s Attic, Sublimity Interiors, Big Town Hero, Les Schwab, Creekside Counseling, Michael Bochsler Insurance, and from Mississippi, Lyn Phillips. Beauty and The Barber donated his hair dye and haircuts.
Austin plans to raise funds every October, related to Santiam Hospital’s symposium. “I feel really good that I get to help other people,” he said.
