Photo credit: Genee Fredericks Shaishnikoff

On Sunday, 9 November at 4pm, friends of Denise Levendosky gathered at the Unalaska High School Small Gymnasium to celebrate her life and raise money on behalf of her family to cover medical, travel and funeral expenses incurred since August.  The plan was hatched by special education teacher, Kristen Burnham, who worked closely with Levendosky for two years.  The project snowballed as more friends, colleagues and students joined in to make the benefit a huge success.  What began as just a dinner, became a giant success with paper bag auction, silent auction, music from Our Band, Memory Book table, fish dinner with baked potato bar and scrumptious desserts.  As Burnham said, “It was truly a labour of love for Denise…It was beautiful how the community came together in love and support for Denise and Brad.”   Denise Levendosky passed away in Michigan on 1 October after battling cancer.  She had worked as a Special Education Paraprofessional at UCSD for six years.