The Lockerby Composite School “Remembering Laura Cotesta, Kids Caring for Kids” Cancer Drive takes place Oct. 25.

Some 700 students and staff will canvass door-to-door from 5-9 p.m. to raise funds for the Northern Cancer Research Foundation. Students will be wearing appropriate nametags and will hand out receipts for all donations.

This year marks the 17th anniversary of Lockerby’s tribute to former student Laura Cotesta who left the school with a legacy. Cotesta started this campaign while she was attending Lockerby, but also while she was fighting her own battle with cancer. She saw cancer only as an obstacle in life, one that she was determined to overcome and live through.

“Lockerby Composite School has kept Laura in the hearts and minds of all students by fulfilling her dream of continuing the Cancer Drive,” Lockerby Composite School principal Heather Gaffney said. To date, the school has raised $550,000 for pediatric cancer care in the north.

“We raised $50,000 last year and our goal is to match that amount this year,” Gaffney said. “If we reach this goal, we will have raised $600,000 for the Northern Cancer Foundation in 17 years. What a tribute to our school and our community.”

Cotesta viewed cancer as an opportunity - an opportunity to raise awareness and to fund a pediatric cancer care facility in Sudbury. Tired of travelling to Toronto for treatments and unwilling to wait for someone else to act on this, Cotesta took up the challenge.

Cotesta and a group of friends founded the “Kids Caring for Kids” Cancer Drive. After realizing her dream of graduating from high school, Cotesta left Lockerby and subsequently passed away.