Cara Spector lost her Aunt Rita to breast cancer. Two other family members survived it. So when the 12-year-old Cherry Hill resident chose a bat mitzvah project, she picked the cause that had shaped her family's life.

Spector, a sixth grader at Kellman Brown Academy in Voorhees, partnered with Sharsheret, a Teaneck-based nonprofit that supports Jewish families dealing with breast and ovarian cancer, to build a multi-part awareness campaign that stretched well beyond her school walls.

She and her friends assembled 150 care packages and donated them to Cooper Hospital's Janet Knowles Breast Cancer Center in Camden. Then Spector organized a National Pink Day at Kellman Brown, encouraging classmates and staff to wear pink in solidarity with breast cancer survivors. She spread the effort to her mother's workplace and rallied her three siblings to wear pink at their own schools.

Her mother, Sabrina Spector, is executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Southern New Jersey, part of the Jewish Federation, which also participated in Pink Day.

"At the time, my Aunt Rita had just passed away, so the bat mitzvah project was a little on her behalf," Cara Spector told the Jewish Community Voice in a profile published Wednesday. "Also, my other aunt, Devorah Malka, had breast cancer, and my mimi (grandmother) also had breast cancer. So, it was also in honor for a lot of my family members."

Spector also plans to donate 10 percent of her bat mitzvah gift money to Sharsheret, which created its annual Pink Day observance in 2010 and offers b'nai mitzvah project ideas aligned with Jewish values of charitable giving and aiding the sick.

The project isn't finished. In October, during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Spector plans to partner with a local spa for a fundraising and awareness event. Details have not been announced.

Spector said the work deepened her understanding of what families face during a cancer diagnosis.

"It definitely taught me to not take my health for granted," she said. "A lot of people know someone who has had cancer, and for the people who have survived, that's a huge miracle."

The Spector family attends Congregation Sons of Israel in Cherry Hill. Cara's favorite color, she noted, is pink.