An assemblage of Mercer Island boys is assisting both a fellow local and copious others as part of its philanthropy efforts.

Mercer Island’s chapter of the National League of Young Men (NLYM) collaborated with The First Night Project to help support and comfort teenage cancer patients at all five Pacific Northwest children’s hospitals.

During a winter gift-card drive, the 118-strong local NLYM group collected 189 cards of $25 each from eateries near the hospitals to be included in care packages for the teens receiving chemotherapy. Islander and First Night founder Harry McGovern was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in April of 2020 and has been considered “safely” in remission for two-plus years.

McGovern, 16, who is currently a junior at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, is grateful that the Island’s NLYM — which is part of a 19-chapter mother/son partnership nonprofit organization — and an immense amount of unwavering supporters have joined him on the 501c3 First Night’s charitable journey over the last few years.

“The gift cards collected by NLYM will substantially improve the quality and composition of the care packages, allowing for teenage recipients on chemotherapy to have a greater variety of out-of-hospital food options,” said McGovern, whose Make-A-Wish Alaska and Washington shopping trip at Macy’s in Bellevue in October of 2020 saw him gathering items to place in concierge kits for patients and nurses at his own treatment location of Seattle Children’s Hospital.

“NLYM’s contribution will allow The First Night Project to continue operating with high-quality amenities well into the foreseeable future,” he added.

Mercer Island’s NLYM was founded in 2014 and the four-year program — which includes young men in grades 9-12 — promotes leadership, service, culture and protocol.

President Jaimie Shea said that all-league philanthropy leader Missy Johnson suggested that NLYM choose First Night as its beneficiary because some of the boys are friends with McGovern and are familiar with his story. It had a profound effect on them, they took McGovern’s experience to heart and wanted to help patients their own age who are struggling, Shea added.

“I also felt like I could take advantage of a learning opportunity and educate our young men on what and why they were assisting,” Johnson said. “I enlisted two senior young men to make a teen-relatable short video with Harry explaining why the gift cards are included into his care packages and how cancer affected him personally when it came to food aversions and eating. The video was well received.”

While participating in the gift-card project, the members hit the streets and engaged in conversations with potential donors about First Night’s cause of helping others. According to Johnson — who had three sons participate in the organization over the last decade — NLYM and mothers purchased cards, asked for donations or buy one get one free.

“I think one of the key things that we try really hard to do with the young men in NLYM is to provide them opportunities where they can go out and have kind of a real-world experience, whether it’s philanthropy based or culture based or kind of getting them prepared to be part of boards in their fraternities or careers or whatever going forward,” said Shea, who presently has a high school junior son in the group, had one son complete four years and has another son ready to join next year.

Johnson said that Mercer Island’s NLYM has impacted the local community and many other territories, with the members providing meals for the homeless, helping at shelters hosting abused women and their babies, participating at fundraisers for Swim Across America, Rivkin Center, Alzheimer’s Association and more.

“I like NLYM because it gives me the opportunity to spend time with my friends learning about new things and getting to do good in our community. It also allows me to learn about how a board works in the real world, which is good experience for the future,” said member Gavin Shea.

NLYM, which has 19 chapters (13 in California, three in Washington and one apiece in Oregon, Idaho and New York), was launched in 2007 in Newport Beach, California. For more information on the Mercer Island group, visit: https://www.nationalleagueofyoungmen.org/mercer-island/