tay-bandz Continues Its Mission in Edgemont and Beyond

Has everyone seen the great tay-bandz/ Kids Curing Cancer car magnets that have started showing up on cars all over town? The magnets pictured here feature an adorable ladybug and rainbow designed and marketed by a student at Edgemont High School. Everyone has been asking me how to get one for their own cars. The magnets are part of tay-bandz's latest fundraising effort for pediatric cancer research. tay-bandz introduced their "One Magnet At A Time" fundraiser earlier this year and they are everywhere now. For every $7 donation to tay-bandz, you will receive one car magnet that one day will save a child's life. If you would like to order a car magnet, simply email tay-bandz directly at [email protected] .

tay-bandz is a 501 (C) 3 non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness and funding research for pediatric cancer. tay-bandz was founded in 2003 by a truly remarkable Edgemont student, Taylor Matthews who, at age 11, was diagnosed with cancer. Taylor had a heart of gold and her dearest hope was that someday no child would ever have to face cancer. Taylor passed away in February of 2008 but the organization she founded continues through her family's hard work and dedication to Taylor's dream that no child should face cancer. tay-bandz is completely run by volunteers and every penny raised by tay-bandz goes to fund pediatric cancer research.

Through their tireless fundraising efforts, tay-bandz has raised over one million dollars for pediatric cancer research. They have funded grants to Hopes & Hero's Cancer Fund at Columbia Presbyterian, Memorial Sloan Kettering, MD Anderson Cancer Institute and have just approved a grant to fund the National Institute of Health. In May of 2010, Columbia Presbyterian Hospital announced the grand opening of a new state-of-the-art Pediatric Solid Tumor lab named after tay-bandz and Taylor. Several of Taylor's pre-med friends will be interning this summer in the tay-bandz lab at Columbia.

In the past, tay-bandz has raised funds through selling a wide variety of tay-bandz merchandise such as sweatshirts, headbands, jewelry, beach towels, tote bags, key chains, hair scrunchies, scarves, belts, flip flops and t-shirts. They have also partnered with other organizations such as Bloomingdales and Presents with a Purpose to raise funds and recently announced a new Capital One VISA credit card that will donate $50 after your first purchase, and then 2% of your gas and grocery purchases and 1% on all other purchases to tay-bandz.

If you would like to order any tay-bandz merchandise or make a donation to tay-bandz, send an email to [email protected]. To learn more about tay-bandz, please visit the organization's website at www.taybandz.org . You can also visit their facebook cause page called "Tay-Bandz - Cure Pediatric Cancer." Taylor's parents are very grateful to everyone who continues to support tay-bandz to keep Taylor's hopes and dreams alive. Every donated dollar is greatly appreciated and helps fund important research.