Whiz Kid: Kelsey Bone of Brandon Sets Relay Fundraising Goal High

Kelsey Bone is a whiz at expectations. More important, she is a whiz at seeing them through.

The 14-year-old eighth-grader hails from Mann Middle School and spends lots of time at Brandon High, where she serves on the committee that each year brings to fruition the Greater Brandon Relay For Life.

Her goal this year is to raise $100 for very year of her life — plus another $100 for good measure.

As of Feb. 8, she was about $600 short of her goal.

The overnight Greater Brandon Relay For Life kicks off April 1 at 6 a.m., on the high school's track and football field.

“My goal is to raise $1,500 and become a Star Supporter,” Bone said, about the designation given by the American Cancer Society for its Relay For Life supporters who collect at least that amount in donations.

“In my family many people have cancer or survived cancer and that’s what inspired me to start fundraising,” she added. “Last year I raised more than $400 and the year before that I only raised a little over $200, but that was my first year fundraising and trying to set goals.”

Bone has raised money from friends and family — and she’s thankful for their largesse — but she also has reached out to the community at large, with baked goods for sale at her mom’s office and with greeting cards she designs and creates under her own logo, “Kelsey’s Designs.”

The cards were priced individually at $1, she said, "but since so many people are buying them I decided to go to $2.”

Kelsey’s acumen for business and eye for creativity fare well for her two career goals: “I want to be a photographer and a cake decorator,” she said.

With photography, she said, “I just feel like I can capture a moment and it will always be with me, I’ll never forget it.”

Bone said she took a cake decorating class at in Regency Square and discovered she had a talent for it, so much so that she "fell in love with" her first creation.

“When I went home I wouldn’t let anybody eat it, I loved it so much,” she said. “Then I took the adult class and (I found it) even more interesting.” She said she likes to draw and to be "creative and let my mind flow."

As for what makes her tick, “what makes me, me,” Bone offered this: “I’m always laughing and smiling and making people happy. I’m a leader. I don’t follow the crowd and do what people tell me to do. I do what I do because I enjoy it and not because someone says it’s good for me or it’s good to do. I do it because that’s who I am or that’s what I want to do, what I want to put my mind to.”

When it comes to Relay For Life, Bone has found a cause to believe in for life — or at least until cancer is eradicated.

“Really, Relay For Life is my life," she said. "I’m all about Relay For Life.”