Garage sale benefits Color Me Cancer Free

Since 2016, Merrick resident and artist Lynn Faherty has had one goal: to encourage and inspire children undergoing cancer treatments, with her book “Oliver the Brave.” Inspired by a young boy battling neuroblastoma, who Faherty met when her own son was in preschool in 2011, the book seeks to encourage those undergoing treatment to be strong and brave, and to shine a light on the realities families face when they have a child who is sick.

“A whole family gets turned over, upside down, when one of their kids is sick,” Faherty said. “It’s hard — school time is interrupted, all their activities. It’s just insane what these poor families go through, and it really touched me.”

The picture book, intended for kids between the ages of 4 and 8, features main character, Oliver, who’s a tyrannosaurus rex. His mission is to encourage and inspire children to overcome their challenges.

Faherty created the nonprofit, Color Me Cancer Free, to help raise funds in order to print copies of her book.

“I decided a foundation would be the right thing to do to raise money, to help me print these books, and other great inspirational things for the kids so I can give them away for free,” she said. “That’s how Color Me Cancer Free came to be.

“I’m an artist,” she added, “and I like to color, and kids like to color. It’s actually a very stress relieving activity for families. It’s supposed to really help people. When they concentrate on the colors, what they’re doing, it takes away the fear and all the stuff that’s going on while they’re in the hospital.”

As a certified nonprofit, Color Me Cancer Free raises money to help print “Oliver the Brave,” and it also delivers toys and coloring books to help families during stressful hospital stays.

Faherty has received tremendous support. The foundation has an Oliver the Brave mascot, who frequently makes appearances at various fundraisers. Coming up this weekend, Faherty is having a large garage sale, and all proceeds will benefit Color Me Cancer Free.

“The money goes to the foundation, to help me get more stuff for the kids,” she said. “I’ve delivered hundreds and hundreds of books this past year — (with) money we raised just doing virtual fundraisers, sending around all the information, and getting people to donate which worked out really well.”

For years, Faherty has hoped the reach of her book will one day expand, and has written an animated children’s television series to make that happen. “We’re in the process of looking for directors and investors to get to get it animated,” she explained. “That’s been my project for the last two years, finding the right people, raising the money to do that.”

Faherty said her career now as an artist and author, is solely focused on spreading the message of the book. “It’s my destiny — that I know,” she said. “My office is all Oliver. This is all I do, and talk to families with kids with cancer. It’s important, and it does touch me really deeply.”

The garage sale will take place on May 13 and 14, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days, at 1548 Little Whaleneck Road, Merrick. Visit OliverTheBrave.com for more on Faherty’s book, and ColorMeCancerFree.com for more about the foundation.