Good things in the world

Life has been crazy so I haven't posted anything in a while but this one deserved my attention.

I wanted to share with everyone a blog that my fiance stumbled across today that I think everyone should take the time to read: 40 Extraoridnary Things Happening Right Now (from http://www.marcandangel.com/)
It talks about how even though it may seem like nothing good is going on in the world, in fact there are at least 40 things happening right this second that make life wonderful.  One of my favorites, and I have many from this list, is #36 "A breast cancer patient just found out her cancer is in complete remission." And it's very true! Every day, all day long cancer patients are finding out that they are cancer free and are now living their lives without the horrible disease.  So much of discussion about cancer talks about how many people are hearing the words "you have cancer" and not nearly enough is about the numbers of people hearing that their cancer is in remission. 

However, I did see a wonderful episode of TLC's Cake Boss last night about the American Cancer Society's campaign of A World With More Birthdays.
Here's more information about the wonderful episode: http://morebirthdays.com/page/cakeboss
The cake that Carlo's Bakery made was a wonderful representation about how the bakery staff have be effected by cancer and how they want to give back. Also, during the original airing of the episode a couple of More Birthdays commercials aired which was awesome to see! Take a look at some of these at MoreBirthdays.com and send an e-card with one of them to a friend or family member for their birthday!

The efforts that the American Cancer Society and all organizations dedicated to finding a cure for cancer are making can be seen everywhere! I love seeing all of these wonderful and inspiring stories/websites/shows. We still have a long way to go but there are definitely good stories in the world.

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Until We Find a Cure

Learning So Much!!

I started my new job with the American Cancer Society over a month ago and it has been wonderful! I got to be the main staff person for a event in the middle of June, meet community managers from other offices in the South Atlantic division at training and work with amazing volunteers/staff.  Every day is different and every day I learn something new.  I cannot wait to start working on the 2012 events with my communities and really get the chance to work with them since I came in after so many of their events were over.  The 2011 year's events are wrapping up but there is still so much work to do.

I've got big plans/ideas for my events and I cannot wait to see what they think of them. Stay tuned to learn how you can help!

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Until We Find a Cure

New Involvement with the American Cancer Society

So it's been a while since I've posted anything, but that's because the last few weeks have been kind of hectic.  After graduation I spent some time visiting family and participating in my Relay For Life event back home.  This event occurs in my hometown and it's on a much different scale than the one at Virginia Tech but it's always successful and a lot of fun.  This year I got to watch my mom run a "5k at 5am" at the event which was really cool considering it had been almost 24 hours since she had woken up the day before.
However that's not my new involvement with the American Cancer Society since I have been attending that event for 3 years now...so the question is what is it??

I am now working on the other side of Relay For Life events, I am now a full time employee of the American Cancer Society!! I get to help run 3 events near Roanoke, VA and work with the many volunteers who come into the office and attend our events.  I am so excited to be apart of such a wonderful organization that I have had the opportunity of volunteering for.  The American Cancer Society is such a wonderful organization and the people who staff it and it's volunteers are some of the most amazing people.  I cannot wait to really begin work with my 3 events, I've already had the opportunity to start working with one of them.  This job is going to be an great opportunity for me, to not only work with 3 community RFL events but also to get to work towards bettering the lives of cancer patients everywhere!

If any one out there wants to learn more about how to get involved, leave a comment or visit cancer.org and explore the American Cancer Society's website.

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Until We Find a Cure

Four Wonderful Years

I can't believe my tenure with Relay For Life at Virginia Tech is complete and what a wonderful four years it was.

When I joined VTRelay in Fall 2007 there were probably only 30-40 people on the planning committee, there are now on average 100-110 people on the different committees and Exec.  The 2007/2008 event took place on the Johnson-Miller Track and Field, however that was the last year it was held there because in 2008/2009 the event was moved to the Drillfield. The event has grown from about 2500 participants to almost 6000!! And of course the growth over four years isn't limited just to participants...we've raised over $1.5 million dollars!!

I can't believe I had the opportunity to help plan the largest collegiate Relay For Life event in world for the last 4 years! Seeing the growth this event has achieved in four years is unbelievable and every year I am even more impressed than the year before. I cannot wait to see where this event goes in the future, when I visit as an alum of the greatest university, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Thank you Relay For Life at Virginia Tech for a fantastic four years.

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Until We Find a Cure

More pictures!

We received an email yesterday about a slideshow/webpage full of pictures from the first portion of our event.  The pictures start with the finishing up of set-up and go through the Survivors lap.  Follow the link to take a look at: http://lbhphotography.net/relay2011/

Here's a preview and one of my favorites:

I hope you enjoy the pictures, they really are fantastic and I hope there are more to come.

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Until We Find a Cure