Funds raised to help Ephraim woman fighting cancer

BySuzanne Dean
Oran Roberts and Melissa Olsen, with their children, enjoy a Hawaiian lunch at a fundraiser last Saturday, Sept. 12 for Jana Newman, an Ephraim resident and long-time C.O. Building Systems employee, going through her second bout with cancer.
Oran Roberts and Melissa Olsen, with their children, enjoy a Hawaiian lunch at a fundraiser last Saturday, Sept. 12 for Jana Newman, an Ephraim resident and long-time C.O. Building Systems employee, going through her second bout with cancer.
(Suzanne Dean / Messenger Photo)

EPHRAIM—Residents from Ephraim and beyond pitched in Saturday, Sept. 12 to support a fundraiser for Jana Newman, the purchasing manager at CO Building System, who is battling her second round of cancer.

Newman was diagnosed with uterine cancer in 2021. She was told to go in for annual check-ups. If she was still cancer-free after five years, she was told, she could be considered “cured” and wouldn’t require any more annual exams.

Her fifth exam was in April 2025. Shortly afterward, she said, the uterine cancer returned. She has continued to work and said when she needs to work from home, CO Buildings has been understanding.

Krystal Blaine, Newman’s sister-in-law, and a friend, Flo Leao, organized the fundraiser, which was a Hawaiian lunch at $20 per plate, held at the Greenwood Student Center at Snow College.

Snow College donated the food, and food service workers at the college volunteered to serve it. Liz Stilson of Ephraim donated an array of desserts, and Kathy Jorgensen of Ephraim purchased $30 worth of the deserts.

The lunches were on sale from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., and people showed up intermittently throughout those hours to buy lunches to take home or to eat at tables set up in Greenwood Center lounge.

Information on the outcome of the fundraiser was not available at press time.