Inspired by Canonization

DOLL FUNDRAISER  Katie Castronovo, a second-grader at St. Joseph School, Mendham, is pictured on her first day of school holding her American Girl doll with matching outfit. She has been raising money to buy an American Girl doll without hair for girls in the hospital who have lost their hair due to cancer treatments. She will operate an apple cider stand in front of her house as a fundraiser this Saturday, Sept. 24.

MENDHAM  Most girls love to play with dolls — feeding them, dressing them and rocking them to sleep. And they often love when these dolls — especially those who are girls — resemble them.

But what if a little girl has no hair on her head — an unpleasant side effect of her chemotherapy treatment for cancer?

Seven-year-old Katie Castronovo, a second-grader at St. Joseph School here, wants to make sure that girls battling cancer can play with a doll that looks like them: with no hair. The canonization of Mother Teresa on Sept. 4 inspired her to plan to set up an apple cider stand in front of her house in Mendham on Satur­day, Sept. 24 to raise money to make a donation to the Valerie Fund at Goryeb Children’s Hos­pital, Morrist­own, for an American Girl doll without hair on her head. The doll will “serve as a support to girls who may have lost or will lose their hair during treatment for childhood cancer,” said her mother, Amy.

“I was listening to the canonization of St. Teresa. I wanted to do something like her. That afternoon, I was looking through my American Girl doll catalog and saw a doll without hair,” said Katie, who belongs to St. Joseph Parish, with her family. “I thought that it would be nice if the girls with cancer in the hospital had a doll to play with, while getting treatment. Also, they would have a doll that looks like them. So, $140, here I come,” she said.

That’s the amount that Katie hopes to raise, while she and others operate an apple cider stand this Saturday, from 10 a.m. to noon, in front of her house at 20 Brockden Drive. Instead of setting a price per cup, they will just ask for a free-will offering. The donations will buy an American Girl doll — one of the most coveted types by girls today — and a pair of pajamas, said Amy, an attorney by profession and now a stay-at-home mother to her only child, Katie.

“St. Teresa told people to ‘stay where you are’ and ‘find your own Calcutta’ [where the saint ministered to the poor in India]. We should do good things for people in our area,” said Amy Castronovo, also co-chair of community/Christian service for St. Joseph’s Home School Board.

So far, Katie has reached the halfway point to her $140 goal. She and her mother sent invitations for donations to friends, family and members of the St. Joseph’s community. Already, many people have contributed, including the school’s principal, Lisa Gillespie.

In the past, she has donated some of her birthday and Christmas gift money to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. Also, she had participated in service projects at St. Joseph School.

She hopes to buy the doll soon and bring it to Goryeb Children’s Hospital, where she will meet with a staff member to receive it. In the future, she hopes to raise enough money to donate additional dolls without hair, her mother said.

Kelly Blanchette, child life specialist in hematology and oncology at the Valerie Fund Children’s Center, will accept Katie’s donation. She said that the hospital has “never had a donation like this. I can’t wait to meet Katie.”