(CNN) The efforts of some hardworking preschoolers are warming people's hearts, and it's not just because of all the hot cocoa.

Jasper Mazzocco, 4, was diagnosed with a rare type of brain cancer late last year. He was taken out of school and hospitalized, but his classmates at Redding Cooperative Preschool in Redding, California, never stopped thinking about him.

"The kiddos... miss and talk about him everyday," Becky Haskins, a fundraiser organizer and mother to one of the preschoolers, told CNN. "He is one of the sweetest souls that I have ever met and his family is just the same."

Jasper Mazzocco, 4, smiles from his hospital bed.

Last week they held a hot cocoa fundraiser, hoping to raise money for Jasper's family. With help from their parents, local stores and the community, the stand was a massive success: altogether they raised more than $10,000.

"They wanted to help Jasper in any way they could," Haskins said. "That was a day that I will never forget."

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