Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

It takes a long time to count a million paper airplanes -- and Hunter Winship's family is still counting. Since January, the family has been collecting paper airplanes from all over the world in an effort to get Hunter into the Guiness Book of World Records for the most paper airplanes ever received. His family started the project to keep Hunter's mind of his treatments for a rare form of cancer. They were hoping to have all the planes counted, and have the record included in the Guiness Book, before Hunter's 6th birthday next month. But they've counted about 600,000 so far and still have hundreds of thousands more to count.

Troops on the front lines in Iraq pitch in to help Hunter By KATE DAY SAGER Olean Times Herald When Cheryl Winship of Freedom, N.Y., opened an envelope this week addressed to her little boy, Hunter, the tears started coming and wouldn’t stop. Inside was a document holder with a photo from U.S. soldiers serving on the front line in Iraq, a Bronze Star from one of the men and a written comment stating Hunter was their hero. The letter, along with several paper airplanes made by the soldiers out of the Iraqi form of money called Dinas, were added to the hundreds of thousands of airplanes little Hunter has received over the past few months. Hunter, 5, was diagnosed in January with Burkett’s Lymphoma, a rare form of cancer. Over the past several months, he has received chemotherapy at Buffalo Women and Children’s Hospital in his fight against a disease that results in fast-growing tumors. Read Kate's complete story HERE .

Five-year-old Hunter Winship's quest to get in the Guiness Book of World Records surpassed everyone's expectations. Family members of the Freedom boy estimate he's received more than a million paper airplanes. The project began in January when Hunter was diagnosed with Burkitt's Lymphoma. His mother thought setting a world record would be a distraction for Hunter, and she was shocked to realize there wasn't one for the most paper airplanes ever received. When the project began, she thought maybe they'd get enough airplanes to fill their 15-passenger van. Monday was the last day they could collect airplanes for the official count. While the Winships must count all the planes before Guiness officials do the official tally, Hunter's Mom believes they have easily surpassed a million planes. She's hoping they will officially make the record books by June--when Hunter will celebrate his sixth birthday.

Check out this video:

As we've been telling you this week, 5-year-old Hunter Winship is battling a rare form of cancer. Because he loves airplanes, his family and friends are trying to lift his spirits by getting him into the Guiness Book of World Records for the most paper airplanes received. WIVB-TV ran a story about Hunter Friday morning. You can see it HERE . Hunter is the cousin of our own Scott Douglas. Scott Douglas took this photo of the Allegany River in Salamanca Wednesday afternoon. A flood warning is now in effect until Friday afternoon for Olean. Minor flooding is already happening and more is forecast. Flood stage of the Allegany River is 10 feet, and the river is expected to crest near 13 feet tomorrow morning. The major impact is expected to be East Riverside Drive. The flood warning in Salamanca is in effect until late Thursday night. Minor flooding is occurring, and more is forecast there as well. Flood stage is 12 feet and the river is expected to crest at 12.7 feet tomorrow. Floodi...