Cayla Clarke, age 20 and a student in the Community Steps Transition Program, will be hosting a bake sale fundraiser in memory of a cousin she lost one year ago. The bake sale will be at the Wilton Family Y this Saturday, July 14, from 9 a.m.-12 p.m..
Cayla’s cousin, Alexandra Ciarcia (pictured above, left, with Cayla, right), was a student at SUNY Geneseo who would have graduated this year. She died tragically and unexpectedly from a seizure condition. According to a website about Ciarcia, “Alex experienced learning and college with unbridled passion and full commitment. Her first and greatest love was reading and writing. When she won a national award for Harry Potter Fan Fare, she knew her future [was] in communications and literary.”
Cayla is raising money through the bake sale for an endowed scholarship fund that will fund scholarships for SUNY Geneseo communication majors.
“No one foresaw this heartbreaking outcome. Cayla, who has autism, needs all of the support she can get,” says her mom, Theresa Clarke, adding, “Two young men, Stephan Nobles and Darden Livesay, have graciously volunteered to help her.”