When Caroline Vazquez was too scared to go to the cafeteria on her first day of first-grade, her teacher ate lunch with her– a date they kept until the girl was ready to join the others.
Her friend, Grace Marino, said the same teacher fed her crackers on the sly when she complained of being hungry.
Years later, the girls who met in Nicole Furibondo’s first-grade class at Lester School in Downers Grove, are repaying the kindness.
For the second year, the girls have planned a three-day lemonade stand to raise money for Furibondo’s 3-year-old son, Matthew, who was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive leukemia in 2009.
Last year, the 13-year-olds raised $2,700, with $2,000 going to the Furibondos for medical bills not covered by insurance and the remainder going to the Leukemia Research Foundation.
Vazquez and Marino are repeating the effort for Team Matthew, with a stand set up at 611 Davis Street in Downers Grove that will run from noon to 5 p.m. through Saturday.
“She was always enthusiastic to be at school and help us out,” said Caroline Vazquez, who said Furibondo was one of her favorite teachers.
Grace Marino said her family moved to town as she entered first grade and the teacher smoothed out a rough transition.
Furibondo, a Naperville resident, said she always made a point of being there as students took what she views as the first steps into a make-or-break period of early life when they entered her first-grade classroom.
“I always wanted kids to feel like they were in a safe place and that they were successful,” said the former teacher. “If they don’t have a nice teacher it can negatively impact.”
While a cloud of uncertainty was hanging over last year’s sale, things have started to turn around for the Furibondos.
The teacher’s husband, Gene, was a suitable stem cell donor. Now 11 months after receiving stem cells from his dad, and Matthew is on the mend.
Their insurance company also reversed course after a year of refusing to pay for treatment.
“They said they looked at the file and decide it wasn’t a pre-existing condition,” Furibondo said. “Somebody (at the insurance company) must have had a heart.”
As a result, she said the proceeds of this year’s lemonade sale will be donated to the Leukemia Research Foundation.
“All these wonderful people who had just pulled together to help,” Furibondo said. “We just feel like if we give back … that would really help other kids.”
While Matthew responded well to stem cell treatment, the possibility of relapse looms, she said. But he’s healthy and this summer is the best one they’ve had with their three-year-old yet.
“We live for today, we can’t look for the future,” she said.
