7th Street Coffee in Raymond was taken over by Raymond Fire Department Firefighter/Paramedic Raela McVey on the morning of Monday, March 4. McVey was raising money for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society Firefighter Stair Climb. The takeover ran from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. with 20% of sales during the take over going to the fundraiser.
"Raela's takeover was a huge success! She did awesome," 7th Street Coffee owner Rosalyn Erickson stated via email. "Between donations from our amazing customers and the 20% of sales between 7:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. from 7th Street, plus I gave her my tips for the two hours, she said it was $300. Not too shabby!"
According to the cafe, McVey has done the stair climb for the past few years and will be taking part in the event again on Saturday, March 10. The climb will consist of climbing 1,356 steps in her full Personal Protective Gear also known as bunker gear.
2019 will be the 28th year of the stair climb that annually takes place at the Columbia Center in Seattle. So far in 2019 the fundraiser has raised just over $1.7M. Over the 28 years the event has raised approximately $17M that goes towards finding a cure for cancer. Raela to date has raised around $1,000 for this years event. Approximately 2,000 firefighters from all over the country will partake in the stair climb.
Anyone wishing to make a donation to the fundraiser/event can visit http://www.llswa.org and make a donation. The donation tab is at the top right of the page.
The Herald would like to wish McVey the best of luck. We would also like to thank her for her determination to raise money to help find a cure for cancer. It's no easy task climbing that many stairs in all that gear! Kudos!