Heritage sophomore Hadley Davis felt a strong need to help her good friend, and Heritage alumni, Raquel “Rocky” Elardo and her family. “I am inspired by Rocky daily [because of her] perseverance, selflessness, and kindness. I wanted to be able to help her and her family in any way possible since Rocky has so effortlessly helped me through hardships of my own,” said Davis. Elardo was diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer back in 2019. Throughout her five year battle with the disease many of her friends have stepped up to support her and raise both awareness and funds for her. Elardo passed away on February 11th. The Heritage community continues to try to find ways to support the Elardo family during this tremendous loss.
Heritage hosted its first annual pediatric cancer night in 2023 in support of Elardo. Davis was determined to do something this year to help out, but she made sure to run everything by the Elardo family first. Once she got the green light from them she reached out to Heritage High School principal, Jeffery Adam, to get his advice on the best way to go about the sale. “ He and the basketball team parents suggested doing the sale at the pediatric cancer basketball nights, and after that everything kind of fell into place” Davis said.
Although she had figured out the logistics of the sale, Davis still had a lot of work ahead of her to put it all together. Had she done it on her own, the sale would not have been as successful as it was. Davis mentioned “ my friends Julia Ehrmantraut and Riley Makitka and one of my teachers ,Mr. Orrell, all helped me brainstorm some ideas and gave me endless support. Lily Smith, Moira Smith, Laurie Ehrmantraut, and my mom, Danielle Davis, all helped me set up the sales and get everything organized at the school. I had many people help me run the sales like Maggie Whitehouse, Ally Childs, Bella Teague, Edie Drake, Abby Walsh, Madi Cohen, and my amazing mom. I could not be more grateful for everyone that helped contribute and make all of this happen for Rocky and her family.”
Davis started collecting clothes a few weeks before winter break. In total she received 30 trash bags full of clothes that people had donated. Of all the clothes, not a single item went to waste. “I went through and sorted the clothes over and over into different sections during my winter break. I also made piles of clothes that I knew wouldn’t sell, and we donated those to the Salvation Army. The tax deduction from the donations was given to the Elardo family. The clothes left over from the sale were donated to the Heritage Closet,” Davis said. 
Heritage held a pediatric cancer night for both the boys and girls games, so there were two sales that took place that week on January 9th and January 12th. On the morning of the first sale, Davis along with her older brother, Thatcher Davis, dropped off a few of the bags before school. After school, their mom brought in the remaining bags. When the clothes arrived, Davis and her friends immediately started to set up for the sale. “ We had clothing racks and tables to display most of the clothes, but there was still a ton left over, so we saved that for Friday, “ Hadley mentioned. Once that game was over, they packed up the sale , and Heritage Athletic Director, JJ Totaro, allowed Davis to store the clothes at Heritage so they wouldn’t have to be hauled back and forth for the second sale. “For the second sale, we just brought everything that was left over back out as it was the first night,” Davis added.
At the end of it all, Davis collected $750 from the sale alone. On her own, she also sold some extra items, and in total raised about $900 to donate to the Elardo Family.
