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8 OUR YUCAIPA | JUNE 2014 OUR YUCAIPA | JUNE 2014 9 "Sarah Amento is a young mother of five who was diagnosed with Triple Negative Breast Cancer. It has now spread throughout her body and is inoperable." This was a part of an e-mail sent to me by my friend, Michele Epps. She was asking for prayer and for ideas to help Sarah raise funds to get to Austria to see a doctor who has had great success in treating this horrible disease. I knew that I had to be a part of this. She's a mom. I'm a mom. I cannot imagine not seeing my children grow up. I had to help. It was decided that there would be several lemonade stands around Yucaipa where people could buy lemonade, treats, or just donate to the Day of Hope for Sarah. Initially my daughter, Hilary, and I were going to host one of the lemonade stands. That fell through so we decided to go around town to visit each stand and show our support, with Hilary taking pictures of each one. On the morning of May 17, Hilary and I left the house about 8:30 am. Our first stop was the high school for the car wash and lemonade stand. We then drove to the soccer fields, baseball fields, and Iris Festival. It was overwhelming to see the support already so early in the day. At the baseball fields, several people were talking about Sarah's event and one woman was overheard saying that she loves how our community comes together to support one of their own. As we drove around town, we looked for pink balloons and stopped to visit. One of our stops was the Green Valley Village Apartments on Yucaipa Blvd. The manager, Glory Garcia talked to the residents, who decided to put together a breakfast and lunch available to anyone who wanted to come in. Several of the residents were in the common area when we arrived. Glory told me that this is a cause dear to her heart as she has had family members fight cancer. Livi Arnold and Simona Welzel, along with their daughters, had a stand near the golf course. To see those little girls standing, dressed head to toe in pink, and waving signs of support for Sarah really touched my heart. Livi told me that it was important to her to have her girls put a face to a name and be out there showing support for a family in need. We drove up the Boulevard and went to the Fresh and Easy stand. While we were there, Linda Amento, Sarah's mother-in- law, came to drop off more goodies so the stand had plenty to offer. I got to talking to her and she told me that she would do whatever it took for her precious daughter-in-law to get better. As we walked back to the car, I burst into tears. It really hit me. All this time I had been thinking about what it would be like to be a mother facing losing her future with her family. After talking with Linda, I thought, what if this was my daughter facing this disease? I hugged Hilary tight and thanked the Lord for blessing me with a healthy child. Linda had told us that Sarah and her family were visiting the high school. Sarah was just finishing up an interview with KCAL when we arrived. We introduced ourselves to her and she was more than happy to talk to us. She said that driving around town was "very humbling and such a beautiful thing." Sarah became a bit emotional. She looked at her husband who smiled at her and nodded, and Sarah knew she could go on talking. "So many people in Yucaipa have told us how inspirational we are. But this community inspires us! Without their support and love, our story would be a very different one." That's when I got emotional. Sarah hugged me tight and whispered, "Thank you for your prayers. Please keep praying." Our next stop was MP Couture in Calimesa, where we spoke with Amanda Scherneck. Amanda is a friend of Sarah's and she is not at all surprised at how strong Sarah has been. She said, "Sarah has faced this challenge head on and knows that God is with her every step of the way. It's almost like Sarah is saying, 'What else God? I can do it!'" She said that all she wants is for Sarah to be able to make it to Austria to kick cancer's butt. We went to visit our friends, the Underwoods, at their stand in front of Oil Can Henry's. Gina Underwood told us about a man with leukemia who had just finished his last chemotherapy treatment that came by to donate to Sarah's cause. Gina said it was an amazing day. Hilary and I continued around Yucaipa visiting each stand and taking pictures. We laughed, cried, and prayed as we drove around. We decided that my husband, Randy, needed to see how Yucaipa turned pink. We picked him up and showed him four or five stands. We then went to Queen Bean for a late lunch. Josh Conroy, the owner, said that they had had a great turnout for Sarah's Day of Hope, and it is really great how this community supports one another. Thinking over the day that night, I said prayers of thanks: for the organizers and volunteers for supporting an incredibly brave woman; for all of the people who donated-time, goods, money; and most of all, overwhelmingly grateful that OUR YUCAIPA has once again stepped up to help one of its own. Community rallies to raise funds for sarah By Michele Peters Photos by Hilary Peters