THE CANFIELD GREEN
Join the Melina Michelle Edenfield Foundation for a day of JOY in their fight to find a cure for pediatric brain tumors
In 2020, a group of neighborhood kids lost one of their best friends, Melina. At age 4, her life was taken too quickly from a pediatric brain tumor. Determined to honor the spirit of their friend, Melina’s ten besties created The Choose Joy event in their front yard; a tribute to their friend’s vivacious, playful personality and a call to action to find a cure for the pediatric brain tumor that took their friend’s life.
This year Melina’s Joy Team decided they had to go bigger and front yards were not enough: This year they are moving the event to The Green in Canfield! Save the date for The Choose Joy Event on Saturday, August 7th from 11:30am-4:00pm and join Melina’s Besties for a donation-based, fun day of face painting, bounce houses, photo booths, giveaways, raffles and more to raise awareness and funds for pediatric brain tumor research!
DETAILS AND ACTIVITIES
DETAILS
- Free Entry
- Street Parking available
- Rain or shine
ACTIVITIES
- Confetti House Bounce Houses
- Family Fitness Class by Mega Barre Youngstown(Join Mega Barre Co Owner for a fun, family friendly dance cardio class! You’ll learn an easy dance that will get the whole family sweating and smiling! Class will include some strengthening and stretching elements as well. All ages welcome, first come first serve. Please wear tennis shoes)
- Sarah Ahmed Face Painting
- The Choose Joy Photo Booth from “It’s Your Day” Photo Booth
- Princess Visits from Heroes and Tiaras
- Therapy Dog Demonstrations from P.A.W.S. Therapy Team
- Melina’s Besties’ Giveaway table
- Canfield Fire Department Firetruck and games
- Canfield Police Department outdoor games
- Miss Dana’s Diamonds Cheerleading demonstration
- Chalk Drawing Contest
- Raffles
- Food Vendors including Lemon Shakes with Barber Drive Beverages
MELINA‘S BESTIES’ GIVEWAY TABLE
Meet Melina’s 10 besties who created this event in 2020 in their front yards. These kids Choose Joy and celebrate their friend every day. Check out their hand-picked Choose Joy giveaways!
RAFFLE ITEMS
Below are some of the amazing raffle items that will be at the Green. There will be over forty baskets to have the chance to win!! Tickets will be available for purchase on the day of the event but you do not have to be present to win.
About the Melina Michelle Edenfield Foundation
On May 22, 2020, the lives of the Edenfield family changed in an unimaginabe way, when their youngest of three daughters, Melina Michelle Edenfield — a joyful, energetic, and brilliant little four-year-old — was diagnosed with a deadly childhood brain tumor called Diffuse Midline Glioma (DMG). Despite initial hope from the doctors that radiation treatment might extend her already limited prognosis, the tumor was one of the most aggressive the doctors had seen, and just a month and two days later — on June 24 , 2020 — the tumor took sweet little Melina’s life.
To have known Melina was to love her — her wild hair, her silly ways, her brilliance, her stubbornness and competitiveness. Melina loved her family, and especially adored her older sisters, Emilea and Klara. She loved everything Cheetah print, giraffes, her Starbucks Frappuccinos, and Target shopping. Melina poured her heart into each day she lived. In one month, this deadly DMG pediatric brain tumor took everything physical from Melina, but it could never rob her of her spirit. Throughout her illness, Melina asked us to “Choose Joy” over sadness. This is a choice we will continue to make to honor her legacy, and serves as the inspiration behind our foundation’s motto.
In Melina’s memory, we have formed the Melina Michelle Edenfield Foundation. We are dedicated to helping other families avoid this terrible tragedy by raising awareness and money to help find a cure for DMG and DIPG pediatric brain tumors.
Upon Melina’s diagnosis, we learned that childhood cancer research is severely underfunded, receiving less than 3% of all money raised for cancer research. Less than 1% of that total goes toward pediatric brain tumor funding, equating to only $500 per child diagnosed. Our mission is to not only raise awareness, but to further fund the necessary research efforts in hopes of saving these wonderful children.
Melina was our family’s miracle for four and half years. It is our hope that she can be the miracle for other families forever.