YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – WKBN First News Community Affairs Coordinator Dee Crawford is a seven-year cancer survivor. She found out about a group called Rock4Reason (R4R), a group whose work impacts many in the Valley who struggle with the disease and terminal illness.

Dynelle Keller and Judy Creque are leaders in the organization.

“What we do is provide financial and therapeutic support through the power of music to people in the Mahoning Valley who are impacted by cancer and terminal illness,” Keller said.

Another service the group provides is therapeutic bags to support people during cancer treatments. Crawford was one of them.

“During that time, treatment can be lonely, solitary type of thing and having the comfort of blankets, tea, chapstick, just so many different things,” Keller said.

Snacks are included, too, as well as crossword puzzles and other comfort items.

Getting involved with cancer patients and those who are terminally ill was something that struck close to home for Creque.

“I’m a cancer survivor, five years now for me, I’m cancer-free, but I had a friend who happened to be one of the founding members of Rock4Reason, who reached out to me when they had an event called “Mums and Mimosas”. It was a celebration buffet, and asked me to just come in and spend the morning with my daughter and get to know some of the people who were walking in the same shoes as I was,” Creque said. “So, that’s how I got to know everybody in the organization.”

The next year, Creque was asked to be a guest speaker for “Mums and Mimosas” and after that, she was asked to be on the board of directors.

“So, it’s been a little bit of a journey with me for this organization,” she said.

Fundraisers for R4R are coming up. The first one is called a Brew Pub Passport. You purchase a passport for $10 that includes 13 breweries in the area. You go to each one and get your passport stamped. Some of the locations offer giveaways.

“After you get through all 13, you send your card to us and we enter you into a drawing,” Creque said.

The brewery passport event ends after Labor Day, but passports are still available. The drawing is scheduled for Sept. 15 and will be live on Facebook. You can sign up online.

Another fundraising event is the Music Night Grand Prize Raffle. Tickets are $20 for a chance to win a $500 gift card to hotels.com, two tickets to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a $100 gift card for the Hall of Fame, a $150 gift card for Ticketmaster, a $100 gas gift card and a $150 Clio coin card. The second prize is a 50-inch smart TV.

“Both prices are awesome. This particular raffle will be completed Oct. 21,” Creque said. “We are going to be live on Facebook, and we will pick the winner.”

“Mums and Mimosas” is another event that has been around for four years, but it’s not a fundraiser.

“It’s a celebration. What we do is invite those folks that we’ve either had the good fortune of meeting along the way or we’ve helped somehow. We send them an invitation and get together for brunch, mimosas, conversation and support — celebrate our warriors,” Creque said.

This year’s event will take place on Sept. 23 at the Hampton Inn and Suites in Canfield and brunch will be provided by The Embassy.

“I think it’s going to be an awesome opportunity to share with each other because, as you said, everybody’s journey is different,” Creque said.

A couple more events are coming up in November. One is called the Rockin’ Hot Purse Bundle, where there will be a bundle of three to four designer items in a raffle.

“Then we have our virtual purse raffle, which is Purse Bingo, which is our biggest fundraiser of the year. The ladies get together and they have little parties at their homes and they could dress in different themes. We have a contest for that, but it’s a huge event for us,” Creque said.

Information about the R4R’s fundraisers and events can be found on the organization’s website or its Facebook and Instagram accounts. Keep visiting their social media sites to see when tickets go on sale for the November events.

All of R4R’s efforts are through volunteers, including its fundraising. Keller says they are 100% volunteer.

“We like to focus on music, that’s why they name themselves, our founders, name the organization Rock4Reason… Everything that we raise goes to families that are in need, impacted by cancer or terminal illness within our valley, Mahoning Valley. That was the whole mission that our founders came up with too because [when] it began, they were fundraising with larger organizations and realized there was a need right here at home,” Keller said.

There’s an area on R4R’s website where you can click to volunteer for the organization.