In order to spread awareness, Superintendent Dr. Jim Vaszauskas designated the first Monday of each month as a Colors for Caring day when different colors can be worn to represent various cancers that have affected loved ones.

“It’s amazing to me how many of our MISD family’s lives had been touched by cancer,” Vaszauskas said.

He survived thymoma cancer.

“I can personally attest to the power of community support and want others to know and experience the same through our Colors for Caring initiative,” he said.

Wearing lavender, pink and black, teacher Amy Lamar chose her colors for her three grandparents who suffered lung cancer, a grandmother fighting breast cancer and her mother who is fighting skin cancer.

”It’s a good thing the district recognizes the people who are struggling or fighting with cancer,” she said.

Principal Derrell Douglas has been through a series of losses, including his father-in-law, so he said he shows support by wearing white.

“(The initiative) has provided an opportunity for those who want to show support for the fight against cancer to do so,” he said.

Douglas said he was pleased with the amount of support.

“Many people know someone with cancer and want to do something to show their support, but they often don’t know what to do,” he said. “I hope that this grows into an event that the entire community embraces.”