Cancer awareness fundraiser even more special during her senior year

By Robert Williams

Editor

This year’s Hornet Hoops and Hope is a special one for organizer and Frazee-Vergas High School senior Sophia Strand.

“It’s kind of what God put in my life to do,” Strand said. “This is what I want to do because it’s what He wants me to do. I’ve really grown in my faith this last year and I think my community service really reflects that. It’s just what I need to do.”

Being of service to others is something that seems to come naturally to Sophia.

“I’d like to think so,” she said.

Sophia got an early start in life when it comes to philanthropy. She began raising funds to fight cancer in first grade in support of her teacher Brandi Trapp, who was diagnosed with breast cancer a few days before school started.

Both Sophia and her mom Nicole agree it was a drive Sophia was born with and something she has been the progenitor of each year.

“As a mom I’m just extremely proud of her,” Nicole Strand said. “She’s had this passion since she was six-years-old and it has grown every year and it just brings her such joy to give back to other people and to help them. As a parent, to watch her grow that passion and get other kids involved, it’s just something to sit back and take in.”

To see how many people she has been able to help with both her cupcake program, Sophia’s Cupcakes for Cancer, and Hornet Hoops and Hope, along with how the community has embraced and rallied behind her efforts has been a life-changing experience.

“I reflect on it a lot,” she said. “I am so grateful and astounded. I’m amazed at how far I’ve come and how this community has grown in cancer awareness because we’ve been affected by it, especially, in the last few years. It’s definitely a lot to take in, but it’s great growth.”

Strand pitched the idea for Hornet Hoops and Hope to activities director Nick Courneya and with the help of both basketball teams raised thousands of dollars to help local families each year.

“This is all her,” said Nicole. “I just kind of hold on for the ride. With it being her senior year, she’s already trying to find a way to balance it so that it doesn’t stop just because she goes to college.”

Much of that money is donated locally to support the Stand by Me Foundation, a local charity created by the Helmers family of Frazee in 2019 that provides financial aid through grants to parent(s)/guardian(s) who need to leave their employment, which results in lost wages; to provide in-hospital support to their child during long hospital admissions due to chemotherapy or medical procedures related to cancer.

The Helmers’ work in the field came out of caring for their son Vincent during his battle with brain cancer at 18-years of age. The first person they helped with the foundation was Sophia’s cousin Grantley,  who passed away from leukemia at age 7.

“That has a really big personal tie and I’ve tried to do everything for Grantley since he got sick and passed away,” Sophia said.

The day of Hoops for Hope was the day after the fifth anniversary of Grantley’s passing, which has piled onto the already heavy emotions of running the fundraiser in her senior year of high school.

“It’s really bittersweet and really hard; I’ll probably cry a few times tonight,” she said.

In November, Strand signed a letter of intent to play volleyball and softball at North Central University in Minneapolis. While she will no longer live in Frazee, she is going to find a way to continue to support the program she started.

“This is an event that our community now looks forward to,” said Strand. “I’m definitely excited for my new adventure and looking forward to what I’m able to do next year in college and what I can do in that community, but it’s definitely hard. I’ve lived in Frazee almost all my life. I’ve created something I’m really proud of and it has a meaning to me on a personal level. It’s hard to leave, but it’s something that will continue on with the people I’m leaving it to.”

After seven years, Hornet Hoops for Hope has branched elsewhere with the help of social and traditional media. 

“We even had a lady from Wahpeton who got the Frazee-Vergas newspaper and called us and sent us a donation,” said Nicole. 

The woman’s act was another of many proud parenting moments for Nicole.

“She just reaches out and what she does it just goes everywhere and it’s infectious and I love it.” she said.

For Sophia, having a supportive mother has made all of her efforts worthwhile, all the way back to first-grader Sophia wanting to help Mrs. Trapp.

“She didn’t know what she was getting herself into and she’s just been there saying, ‘okay’ to all of my crazy ideas and it’s really awesome to have such a supportive mom,” she said.

Both women agree that this situation is rather indicative of their mother daughter relationship.

“It definitely helps that I’m the only child, so everything has kind of gone my way,” Sophia laughed. “It’s definitely me in charge of the house I like to think.”

Sophia has approached different individuals and the Miss Frazee Scholarship Program as helping continue the program, but Nicole seems to think Sophia will be back in Frazee next year at this time for the eighth annual Hoops for Hope. 

“There are a couple different ways we can continue this and I will definitely make that my focus after the conclusion of the event,” Sophia said. “This is such a great thing I want to stay a part of it for as long as I can.”