WBZ Cares: One Summit Helps Children With Cancer Build Courage

BOSTON (CBS) - Each month, "WBZ Cares" highlights a worthy non-profit organization, and tells the story of what that organization does for the community.

This month WBZ Cares profiles "One Summit," which helps childhood cancer patients build courage, self-confidence, and resilience through mentorship with a U.S. Navy SEAL.

Yes, U.S. Navy SEALs, one of the nation's elite special operations force.

Although a small organization, it is facing a big challenge according to Executive Director Diane Lynch: Helping kids who have cancer.

"One Summit is a nonprofit that matches pediatric cancer patients and their siblings with U.S. Navy SEALs in a mentoring expediential learning program," Lynch said.

Adam LeReau, a former Navy SEAL, who had volunteered for several organizations after his mother died of breast cancer, founded the organization in 2013.

"I wanted to help out, I wanted to find out more about the disease, and what I could do to help," he said.

And he found many young kids were battling the disease as well.

"It seemed like a pretty unfair fight to me. I wanted to do something to even the odds," LeReau said.

So he got the idea of matching up a Navy Seal with a pediatric cancer patient, with the SEAL serving as a mentor. And he came up with the idea of "The Climb for Courage."

"The Climb for Courage" matches a one-to-one, so if you are a patient or a brother, you get your own U.S. Navy SEAL, and we go on a full day of rock climbing," Lynch said.

The indoor climbing wall helps teach the kids some very important things.

Volunteer helps a child during a Climb for Courage event (Credit: OneSummit).

"So what they are really learning in rock climbing, is how to be resilient. And how to become self-confident, and strength and leadership and teamwork, really the code of our Navy SEALs."

Adam agrees.

"It teaches how to trust one another, you know, someone is obviously protecting you. If you fall, you can trust them that they are going to catch you," he said.

For more information visit OneSummit.org or WBZ Cares during the month of October.