In September, Fulton residents can follow the golden brick road to learn about the fight against childhood cancer.
The Super Sam Foundation isn't actually painting the Brick District's streets gold - the color of the childhood cancer awareness ribbon - but they're doing pretty much everything but that.
"We are going to swap out all the banners in the Brick District with gold ribbon banners," SSF co-founder Cassie Santhuff said Thursday. "We're coining the phrase 'turning the bricks gold' because a few people have taken 'painting the bricks gold' literally."
She pointed out this awareness effort won't be costing the city anything because the printing was donated.
"We're very excited," she said. "This means a lot to us."
Businesses throughout the Brick District will be working gold into their window displays, competing to win a table at the Sept. 28 SSF Hope Gala fundraiser. There's been talk of wrapping trees in gold ribbons. Some city employees will be wearing gold ribbons themselves. Santhuff also is ordering a special golden dye for the Fulton City Hall fountain.
The golden event begins Sept. 1 and will last throughout the month, including during various Brick District activities planned for September.
"We want to see as much gold in the Brick District as possible," Santhuff said. "It's about raising awareness and bringing the community together behind the cause."
Many Callaway County residents already know about Santhuff and the Super Sam Foundation through the many fundraisers and awareness campaigns, about fighting childhood cancer. For those unfamiliar with the group, participating businesses downtown will be equipped with explanatory window clings and pamphlets.
Childhood cancer - there are 14 types and dozens of sub-types - is seen as uncommon and has been low on the federal priority list for many years. Santhuff's son Sam was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a cancer of muscles connected to bone diagnosed 300 times a year in the U.S., in late August 2013. He was 5 years old.
Sam fought cancer for 13 months, then died in September 2014 at age 6. During his fight, he and his family grew frustrated at the lack of federal funding for childhood cancer cures. Sam repeatedly said he wanted to "help all the kids," his mom has said.
Honoring his wishes, the Santhuff family founded the Super Sam Foundation. The foundation has a two-pronged mission: Support cancer patients and their families with "comfort packs" and fund research grants to make up for the deficit caused by insufficient federal funding.
"Awareness is where everything starts," Santhuff said. "It's key to funding research, it's key to putting legislation through to actually change things."
While the goal of turning the bricks gold might primarily be raising awareness, there are ways community members can help out. Santhuff said downtown boutique Olive and Grace is donating 10 percent of its sales from July to the end of September to fighting childhood cancer. Other downtown businesses, including Beks and Playhouse Bistro, will be acting as drop-off points to donate items for SSF's comfort packs.
And of course, there's the upcoming Hope Gala - SSF's biggest annual fundraiser. Tickets cost $50 apiece, and SSF is currently accepting items for the silent auction. Learn more at: bit.ly/ssfgala.
Santhuff said the organization aims to raise $50,000 in a single evening.
"We'll talk about all the research projects we've funded," she added. "We have now funded over $100,000 in research."
There's a secondary goal to the fundraiser as well: making families who are battling or have battled childhood cancer feel supported.
"Childhood cancer feels so isolating in many ways, especially when you're in a rural community and not near your hospital," she said. "This isn't something that every community rallies behind quite like Fulton."
The awareness drive has already caught attention and support across multiple childhood cancer networks, pages and sites, Santhuff added.