Jaden Smernoas, a freshman high school student, wears pink everyday during October to help raise awareness for Breast Cancer Month. Jaden started fundraising with his family back in 2013 when we met a little boy with a brain tumor who inspired them to want to help. In 2017, the American Cancer Society started a program called Real Men Wear Pink and Jaden immediately wanted to be a part of it. The goal was to wear pink the whole month of October and raise $2500. He surpassed that the first year with almost $8000 raised.

This will be the 3rd year he is wearing pink in October. He has raised over $16,000 and has been the number one kid in America the past two years for most money raised through this program, with many TV and newspaper articles featuring him. This year we decided he would raise money that would stay locally for the ORMC Spagnoli Family Cancer Center. He has arranged for his high school, Minisink Valley, to have a Pink Day on October 25 to support him. We are asking for people to donate $31 for 31 days of pink. He was the first child to ever win the Citizen of the Month from County Executive, Steve Neuhaus, in 2017 and Young Philanthropist of the year from the Association of Fundraising Professionals and the Everyday Hero award from the Minisink Kiwanis Club in 2018.