Mohawk Avenue School raises money for lung cancer

SPARTA TOWNSHIP-For the third consecutive year, fifth-grade students in the Mohawk Avenue School Hand-to-Hand Club made and sold heart-related baked goods to raise money for Deborah Heart and Lung Center. The Hand-to-Hand Club was established at the school to provide opportunities for students to learn the importance of community service and the rewards of reaching out to others in need. Deborah Heart and Lung Center was founded in 1922 when a wealthy philanthropist, Dora Moness Shapiro, learned of the devastation tuberculosis could inflict on its victims. This illness became the focus of her life and she vowed to find a way to provide help and hope for those suffering with the terrible disease. She was deeply touched by the suffering these patients endured and realized that added to their physical pain was financial anguish and the problems an illness of such long duration could produce. Shapiro's plan was to build a tuberculosis sanatorium where desperately ill patients could find help and heal without worrying about cost. With her mission in life set, she then established the sanatorium's simple philosophy for its future, "There should never be a price on life." This is still the mission of Deborah Heart and Lung Center today.