Cassidy McCarthy on Purple Day
Cassidy gets an A+ on her Purple Day project
It wasn’t assigned homework, but if it had been, Cassidy McCarthy would have got an A+. The grade 3 student from Shad Bay came up with the idea of having a day focused on epilepsy – which she called Purple Day – and then she and her mom, Angela, got busy calling and e-mailing everyone they could think to ask them to wear purple on March 26 in support of epilepsy awareness.
First, Cassidy got her own andher brother’s schools involved. Then she contacted other schools in and around HRM as well as Mount Saint Vincent University. People at the Mount sent the call out to all universities across Canada. Cassidy called local politicans, the Senate, the Prime Minister, the Mayor of the Halifax Regional Municipality and the Premier of Nova Scotia. She also e-mailed all 302 Members of Parliament, along with family and friends, asking everyone to pass the word along to wear purple on March 26 for Purple Day. Cassidy had got people across the country wearing purple and thinking about epilepsy.
Cassidy also e-mailed Oprah and called Paul Shaffer of the David Letterman show, who responded by wearing a purple tie on Purple Day.
Press releases were sent out from the EANS office, and Cassidy began to get calls from many media outlets wanting interviews. The story made the front page in Durham, Ontario, resulting in most of the town getting involved. Cassidy was interviewed on the radio in the Durham area, on Moose FM in Northern Ontario and on Information Morning on CBC Halifax. She was also the subject of an Eastlink Magazine segment.
Not content with all of this, Cassidy and Angela started up a Facebook event page, “Purple Day for Epilepsy” Group (now up to 138 members from all over the world) and a Facebook Purple Day for Epilepsy Fan Page.
Cassidy has received e-mails congratulating her from all over the world, as well as a letter from the President of Nova Scotia Teacher’s Union and a certificate from the MP for Saint John. She also found out that Johannesburg, South Africa, and various towns in England are on board for next year’s Purple Day.
Although her mom helped her in many ways, Angela says that the impetus was all Cassidy’s. Struggling with epilepsy herself, Cassidy wanted other children with epilepsy to know they weren’t alone, and she wanted everyone to know that there were different types of seizures and that there was no need to be afraid.
Cassidy is already planning that next year’s Purple Day will be bigger and even better. Congratulations, Cassidy, on a job well done!
On April 25, the L'Arche community of Wolfville held a luncheon at the Applewicks workshop in support of Epilepsy Nova Scotia. Each person attending was encouraged to wear something purple for the day to support the cause. The turnout was good and $62 was raised for epilepsy. L'Arche holds luncheons weekly on Fridays and welcomes everyone to enjoy a meal prepared by them. The work of charities is important to the L'Arche community and each month a day is designated to help a charity.
