MARLBORO – Almost 7 inches of rain from last month’s nor’easter did not deter Allyson Weinberg from trying to make something good out of a bad thing by raising money for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life as part of her bat mitzvah preparations.
The society’s Relay for Life event will take place in June at Freehold Raceway, Freehold.
Allyson’s efforts and a quick change of location netted more than $2,000 for the charity. The pre-Relay for Life walk was supposed to take place outdoors at the Marlboro Recreation Community Center, but was moved indoors when Play Ball, an indoor recreation facility, donated space for the special event.
Allyson, 12, a seventh-grader at the Marlboro Middle School, was inspired by the television show “Extreme Home Makeover,” which did a walk for a woman involved with the Relay for Life, and by a family friend’s struggle with ovarian cancer.
“It all flowed from my mom’s friend having cancer and being sick and she’s a really good person,” Allyson said.
A bat mitzvah is a coming of age ceremony in the Jewish faith where students learn a portion of the Torah, or holy scriptures. Allyson said her section of the Torah taught her that bad things happen to good people.
“There are people who do what’s good for themselves and do what’s good for others and they are the ones that have bad things happen to them. It’s not always fair, and if there’s something you can do about it to make a difference, then you should try,” Allyson said. “I tried to make a difference by doing the walk.”
Along with her Torah studies, Allyson had to perform a community service project that became the walk.
“Everyone has to do a mitzvah, or something good to help others,” she said.
Allyson organized 60 friends, most of whom who will be attending her bat mitzvah next month, under the team name Keeping the Faythe in honor of their friend.