Sunday, April 8, 2012

Chemistry Against Cancer!

     About a week ago, Drake partook in the annual “Relay for Life”, a volunteer-driven fundraising event sponsored by the American Cancer Society. If you’re unfamiliar with the event, you can read more about it HERE.
    This year I was the captain of the Chemistry Club’s team, and our theme was Chemistry Against Cancer! The chemistry club is composed of students who will mostly be entering medical and/or research related fields, so it was awesome to help out and raise support for a good cause that many of us will be directly involved with someday. Our team was composed of 17 members (all students, and one lab instructor), and we ended up raising just over $600 for the event through our individual fundraising efforts.
    One of the coolest things this year was that we were also able to donate an additional $2,5000 from our club’s funds! At the beginning of each semester, we sell lab notebooks and goggles to raise funds to support kids in chemistry and a few social events each semester. For the past few years, we’ve had a surplus of money in our account that wasn’t doing much, so we decided to make a big donation! With this donation, we were one of the top fundraising team at Drake this year!
    The actual event is really cool! Teams walk around a track (located in the Knapp Center) from 6pm-6am to raise awareness and honor those who have had cancer. There’s also lots of free food and fun activities including comedians, sports competitions, and my favorite, free foot massages.
    Something I was unaware of before the night of the event was that the lab instructor on our team, Greg, is actually a survivor of Leukemia. He’s a really cool guy! He graduated from Drake in 2009, after going through chemotherapy in all four years at Drake! That’s impressive! In the fall of 2010, the cancer was completely gone! He actually was the top fundraiser on our team, and I was really glad we could make the extra donation, because he’s living proof that events like this matter and make a difference! Check out some of the pictures of our team below! Thanks to all those who have donated, you’re money helps so many people, and is being invested to find a cure for cancer! Happy Easter!

Team Chemistry Against Cancer!

We had to do a goofy photo!

With Greg at the "Hope" letters. Cancer survivor right there!

The free foot massages were off the chain! I got one after Shivali did.

Enjoying the evening!

   

1 comment:

  1. Congrats to the Chem Club for its leadership and compassion! What a shining example for others. God bless, Bill Rodriguez

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