One of the many lessons I have learned through my job at the American Cancer Society and through Team In Training is that unless people are directly connected to the cause, they tend not to give. Obviously, this is not always true, but definitely tends to be the trend. So, as someone who works for an organization that asks for money and is now a second year participant required to raise money, I have to ask myself, how do I explain to my friends, family and strangers why it is so important to donate even the tiniest amount to my efforts for another 26.2 miles, especially given the current economic state we are all lucky to be a part of.
To begin, I always say, any amount that one can give is greatly appreciated and helps in the fight. I like to tell my friends that instead of that one or two beers at the bar, you could donate that money to my efforts. It’s incredible to think that a simple 10 dollars from merely 10 people raises 100 dollars, which incidently is just about enough to cover the cost of a wig for a woman undergoing chemotherapy. This tactic generally does not work. So, I will go for the more tangible.
Two weeks ago I held a Christmas party at the Children’s Hospital in Washington, DC through my job at the American Cancer Society. I had been wanting to get my volunteers involved with children’s oncology floors for some time, but with all the projects on my plate, it had taken a while to get this one underway. Finally, in the beginning of November, I began to put together a holiday party in December at Children’s Hospital. I had been in collaboration with some other colleagues and members of another organization and quite frankly, it became more stressful than anything. To put it into perspective, I had a perpetual stress headache for the entire week leading up to the event. There was chaos and miscommunication and it had gone from an event that I was so excited to do to being one that I absolutely dreaded. After the week of stress, I finally decided on Friday to put everything aside, know that my volunteers would be great and that we were going to put on a great day for the kids.
Sunday of the party came and I headed off to Children’s Hospital with 75 tiny milk cartons glued to paper plates, boxes and boxes of graham crackers, dozen cans of frosting, many bags of candy, tissue paper, the Polar Express book, a Karaoke CD and about a hundred teddy bears all in preparation for the activities we had planned for the kids. If you couldn’t tell, the milk cartons, icing, graham crackers and candy were all the materials needed to make gingerbread houses. We were there from 2-5pm that day and saw anywhere between 5 and 20 kids at any given time. We began the party with each of my volunteers sitting at one of the tables in the craft room making their gingerbread houses. The first boy came in with his sister and sat next to me, his name was Miguel and he looked about 8 years old-turns out he was 15. The boy was the cancer patient and his sister, who was about 10 was there to support him. He had a hearing aid and several other issues going on. I talked him through how to put together the house and piece by piece we put it together. As Miguel worked on his house, another young girl by the name of Jennifer came in. Jennifer must not have even been ten years old yet and was hooked up to a machine, which she maneuvered round like a seasoned pro. She had no hair, but wore a pretty pink bandana, matching her pink fingernails and pink shoes. In addition, Jennifer wore a hospital gown and a mask, as she was one of the inpatients. Between Jennifer and Miguel, I thought to myself for a moment that I didn’t know if I was going to be able to get through the afternoon. My eyes were beginning to well up, but I fought it and pulled myself together. From there, we had about 15 kids join the room working with all my fantastic volunteers building the most creative gingerbread houses. Some of the kids tended to enjoy eating their houses more than they liked to build them. In fact, one of the young boys sitting at a table across the room from me asked my volunteer, ‘Who made this frosting?,’ ‘Betty Crocker did,’ my volunteer told him, and the boy answered ‘Where does this Betty Crocker live, I want to go to her house!?’. We had quite the laugh.
Many of the nurses came in and saw what a wonderful time we were all having. At one point, I went up to one of the inpatient rooms to see a young girl who just had brain surgery, she was 8 years old. She was upset she couldn’t come to the party, so I brought up the materials to make her gingerbread house. Many of the other inpatient nurses came down to get supplies for their patients who also were not allowed out of their rooms. They were all so happy to see the kids having a great time.
After the gingerbread houses, we did a little holiday karaoke and then we had the children break off into two different groups and using white, green, gold and red tissue paper, dress up two of my volunteers as frosty. After an initial hesitation, the kids really got into it. By the end, all of us were in the room laughing at the two volunteers dressed head to toe in tissue paper as Frosty. By the end of the day, all the stress of the event was forgotten and I realized that it turned out to be more than I could have imagined. What a great day of work.
Okay okay, so what is the point of my story? The day at Children’s hospital was absolutely incredible. It’s incredible to see these kids, barely even 10 years old, living a life that I can’t even imagine. Later that evening, I had gotten to thinking of Jennifer and how it didn’t hit me at the time of seeing her that she had no hair. Because I work for the Cancer Society, I am used to women who have lost their hair; however, that night when I thought of Jennifer, it made me even more amazed at the spirit she has. I said to my roommate Erin, who came with me that day, I remember how cruel kids were at her age for the silliest reasons, can you imagine being her age and not having any hair? There was another girl there by the name of Sandra who was just one of the sweetest girls I have ever met. The nurse told me at the end of the event how excited she was to see Sandra so happy because it was the first time in a month that she was able to leave her room. And she did leave her room, but dressed in head to toe in hospital gowns with gloves and mask on. But you could see the smile in her eyes.
The point of my story is this. I am not touched personally by cancer. I am not touched personally by blood cancer, but I also know I do not want anyone in my life to ever go through the things that I get to see on a daily basis. Your donation has the power to prevent a child like Sandra to ever have to be in a hospital. Your donation has the power to help those there get better.
Perhaps I am lucky in that everyday between my job and my involvement with Team In Training that I get to meet incredible individuals like Sandra and Jennifer and Miguel to remind me that what I do is so important. I chose my career and my participation as a charity runner because the things in my life have made me want people going through whatever they are to know they are never alone. Without fail, you get this sense from those honored teammates of ours that know about Team In Training. Specifically, the honored teammate that spoke at our breakfast 3 weeks ago told us that when her treatments got too tough, or things were just seeming too big, she thought of the wave of people dressed in purple crossing the finish line of their events, and she knew she was not alone. Many of you reading this do not get the chance to listen to the beneficiaries of the donations that come in through these wonderful events. You don’t get to hear someone with leukemia tell you that the thought of what you do makes them feel stronger and not alone. But I’m here to tell you that the dollars you donate to me, the dollars that I represent with every step I take, are helping so many people you can’t even begin to imagine feel stronger. You are giving someone you don’t even know one of the greatest gifts, and that is that they feel they are not alone.
So, that is my little rant for the day… Don’t forget to smile!
GO TEAM!
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