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MALDEN — Staff, students and families at Malden Grade School have raised an estimated $3,000 to increase awareness and promote education about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
On Thursday, the Malden students, staff and families walked for 90 minutes around the school neighborhood for their “Walk for Evelyn” fundraiser, which was planned in memory of Evelyn Longeville, a Malden baby who died from SIDS last fall at the age of 5 months and 18 days.
Evelyn’s parents, Jordan and Angie Longeville, and their other children Olivia, 6, Abram, 4, and Ellie, 2, were among the walkers on Thursday.
Angie Longeville worked with Malden Grade School Principal Mike Patterson and special education teacher Kristy Swarczewski in planning Thursday’s event. The walk was a great way to raise awareness about SIDS. Anything thing that can be done to help prevent SIDS and to keep families safe is important, Longeville said.
The money collected from Thursday’s walk will be used to provide packages containing a baby onesie and educational materials about SIDS to parents of newborns at St. Margaret’s Hospital in Spring Valley and Illinois Valley Community Hospital in Peru, Swarczewski said. Each package costs $7 and will also include a picture of Evelyn Longeville, she said.
The Malden group is working through the SIDS of Illinois organization.
Thursday’s original goal was to raise $700 through the “Walk for Evelyn” fundraiser, which would have provided onesie packages to 100 families, Swarczewski said. But thanks to the approximately $3,000 raised, the Malden school and community will now be able to help 400 families, she said.
Malden Grade’s 80 students and the staff raised about $1,800 for Thursday’s walk, with another $500 donated by the Lutheran Trivent Organization and the remaining amount came through the Longeville family members.
Swarczewski said Malden Grade School had done other end-of-year walks for other
causes, including the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association, but the decision was made to do this year's end-of-the-year walk for SIDS because it had directly affected a Malden family,
“We are a small school, and we are a family,” Swarczewski said. “The Longevilles are a Malden family, so this cause (SIDS) was close to our hearts.”
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