From left to right are C.S. Mott Children's Hospital employees Sheila Morris, Kim Barker, manager of community relations, and child life specialist, Dan Fischer, director of child and family life, along with Katie Sesi, after Katie presented her fundraising check to the group.

Photo courtesy of Yvonne Sesi

Just under two years ago, 9-year-old Katie Sesi set a goal for herself to raise $10,000 for C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital at the University of Michigan. Last week, she not only met that goal, but surpassed it when she presented a check to administrators at Mott for $11,095 from her Katie’s Kanz for Kidz campaign.

Sesi credited her parents, Joe and Yvonne Sesi, and their community involvement as one of the driving forces in her quest to help others. Katie, who has plans to attend the U-M and become a doctor, always wanted to help kids. Because she had had several family members who suffered from cancer, she knew Mott Children’s Hospital would be a worthwhile cause.

A Suzuki trained violinist, Katie began her fundraising campaign by playing her violin outside her aunt’s store, Ayla, on South Main Street in downtown Ann Arbor. But she also had other ideas about raising money.

“One day we were at the bottle return and I told my mom this would be an easy way (to raise money),” said Katie.

Katie created a flyer stating her intent to raise money for Mott and asked for can and bottle donations, which she put in people’s mailboxes or on doors. The fifth grader at Detroit Country Day School sought donations from school, her own neighborhood and neighborhoods of family and friends throughout Ann Arbor, Saline and Bloomfield Hills.

Katie and her mother spent on average about 10 hours a week with distributing flyers and subsequent can and bottle collection. Katie’s mother estimated that they collected more than 80,000 cans and bottles.

“We collected $60 to $160 a week, little by little, but something good always happened,” Yvonne Sesi said.

One of those good things, she noted, involved a family whose son who had died from cancer and would have been 23 on the day Katie left her flyer. They left a donation and card thanking Katie for her work and inviting her to meet the rest of the family.

Additional notes had monetary donations; one had a check for $500. Katie received many of those cards, which she has saved in a scrapbook documenting her experiences.

"We have a lot of young people who donate their time and/or money. But the perserverance, dedication, and thoughtfulness that Katie exhibited is impressive," said Dan Fischer, director of child and family life at Mott. "We don't see that with someone who is 25 let alone a 9-year-old."

Katie’s mother said the experience had been rewarding for her daughter regarding setting and achieving a goal. Katie admitted that it wasn’t easy to reach her goal.

“In the beginning I was worried because everything was going so slow,” Katie said.

But she persevered in her drive to reach $10,000, and has plans for another campaign. So far, Katie has raised $3,000 from her violin playing and wants to raise an additional $2,000 - $5,000.

Wendy Ochoa is a journalism student at Washtenaw Community College where she writes for the Washtenaw Voice and an summer intern on the Community Team. She is also an English teacher at Plymouth High School. E-mail her with news and events in Ann Arbor's west side.