The life of a “kind hearted, passionate, and dedicated individual”, as recalled by some of her Koinonia sorority sisters, was honored last month at the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk. On Sept. 24, some of Ashlee Rollins’ closest friends and family walked a 10k in her memory.

The Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk follows the same route of the Boston Marathon, allowing walkers to choose to walk anywhere from a 5k to a full 26.2 miles. The Jimmy Fund organization solely supports Boston’s Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

What started out as raising money through small bake sales and lemonade stands has turned into massive charity events held across the country, as described by the organization’s website. Their current goal is to raise $8.3 million for cancer research in 2016.

Team “weARstrong” helped The Jimmy Fund reach this goal by representing Ashlee Rollins, a 2014 Saint Anselm graduate. During her time here at the college, Ashlee studied in the business department. She went on to become an accountant in her post-grad life until being diagnosed with uterine cancer abruptly at the start of her career.

Ashlee was diagnosed for less than a year before losing her battle in June of 2016, shortly after her 24th birthday.

Her family and friends decided to start a team in the Jimmy Fund Walk to honor her memory and they extended the invite to current members of Saint Anselm’s Koinonia, in which Ashlee once participated in as a student.

Over the summer Koinonia chose two members, seniors Heather Sullivan and Meredith Lemmon, to walk alongside the rest of the team. Both Sullivan and Lemmon knew Ashlee best, being members of the last pledge class to enter Koinonia during Rollins’ final year at Saint Anselm. The girls also hold the positions of Community Service Coordinators in the sorority.

Jordan Ouellette ’17 said, “As [Sullivan and Lemmon] walked, the other 21 of us cheered them on all along the route.”

Together the current 23 members of Koinonia raised around $650 to contribute to the team’s goal. With limited time to fundraise, they raised the money by collecting donations and raffling off 2 tickets to David Ortiz’s Farewell Game at Fenway Park.

Koinonia stated they were honored to have been able to represent Ashlee in this way during The Jimmy Fund Walk.

Sullivan said with a smile, “She loved participating in community service. She had such an outgoing personality and a contagious laugh.”