"Sadako and the Thousand Cranes" is one of 10-year-old Abby Scurfield's favorite books. It tells the story of Sadako, a Japanese girl with leukemia, who focuses her energy on folding 1,000 paper cranes. Sadako's determination made her a national symbol of courage and hope.

Abby, a fifth grader at Leonard DaVinci Elementary School in Sacramento, decided to reenact Sadako's achievement for the benefit of children with leukemia and other cancers at UC Davis Cancer Center. With her friends in Junior Girl Scouts Troop #1725, Abby folded a thousand paper cranes that adorned a tree for pediatric cancer patients at UC Davis Cancer Center. The girls also asked their friends and relatives to pledge $1 per crane. The result: a check for $1,000 to help establish a children's cancer resource center at the medical center.