Day 294: Project Angel Food

There is nothing more soothing to the soul than a warm healthy meal, but sometimes it’s not always possible to obtain. For those dealing with or affected by HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-threatening illnesses, getting a nutritious meal is not only important to satiate a hunger, but is vital to promoting healing and wellness. Today’s give goes to LA’s Project Angel Food whose mission is to provide the meals for those in need. Thanks to birthday girl, Elizabeth Banks for the inspiration.

Project Angel Food’s mission is to nourish the body and spirit of men, women and children affected by HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. Volunteers and staff cook and deliver free and nutritious meals prepared with love throughout Los Angeles, acting out of a sense of urgency because hunger and illness do not wait. They deliver more than 13,000 meals every week to people in need. 

Amount Donated: $10 

To support Project Angel Food, please visit: http://www.angelfood.org

Party for Charity!

Sometimes having a good time for a good cause is a great way to help give back, plus everyone needs some time to unwind. So, I thought I would share a couple February events in Chicago for you to check out. I received an invite for a benefit party for one of my favorite charities, Chicago Food Depository. Billy Dec is celebrating the 2 year anniversary of his blog, aChicagothing.com, and he’s throwing a party with 100% of proceeds are going to the Greater Chicago Food Depository. That’s pretty cool! The party is this Thursday, Feb. 3rd at Rockit Bar & Grill on Hubbard. You can purchase tickets here.

Billy and I have something in common, we like to celebrate anniversaries and help people at the same time. My 29th birthday is February 22nd and to celebrate I am planning a birthday benefit at Viaduct Theatre (3111 N. Western Ave) on February 26th from 10:30pm-3:00am. All proceeds from this event will benefit LiveStrong.org in dedication to the three wonderful souls that I lost in 2010. There is an amazing musical lineup including Photo.Sans.Nom, The Flavor Savers, Ghosthouse, a surprise special guest and a raucous DJ set by Team Bayside High. There will also be a Live Photo Booth by Benjamin Chandler and Cancer Sucks Swag! This event will be 21 and over & space will be limited. Tickets are on-sale now. In the meantime you can view the facebook event here.

Save the dates and help a good cause by having a good time!

Day 275: BC Cancer Foundation

My friend Jodie is awesome. She works for Capcom in Vancouver, they make video games and she makes the video games sound awesome, you’ve played the games, so you should know it’s true. She’s been a huge supporter of everything I’ve been doing with Living Philanthropic and now it’s my turn to support her. In June she will be riding for 2 days to raise money for BC Cancer Foundation as a part of The 2011 Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer! Her team goal is a little over $21,000 and I know with the support of friends, family, co-workers, and strangers this should be an easy goal to hit. If you would like to help Jodie out or her Capcom team, please go here, if you don’t know who to pick, I’m a bit partial to the team captain. :)

LET’S CONQUER CANCER!

The BC Cancer Foundation is the bridge that connects philanthropic support and research breakthroughs in cancer knowledge. As the fundraising partner of the BC Cancer Agency and the largest charitable funder of cancer research in this province, we enable donors to make contributions to leading-edge research that have a direct impact on improvements to cancer care for patients in British Columbia. They fund with the goal of finding solutions.

Amount Donated: $25

To support BC Cancer Foundation, please visit: http://www.bccancerfoundation.com or pledge your support to Team Capcom

Day 268: Compass To Care

I’ve heard a lot a great things about today’s charity, and with good reason. Compass to Care provides travel support services for parents whose children are fighting cancer. This is a wonderful service and organization, especially for those families that might need a little a lift to the clinics and doctors providing the best cancer care.  If you know anyone who might benefit from or would like to help Compass to Care, please share this information. 

Compass to Care was founded by Michelle Ernsdorff in honor of the adversity her parents, Mike and Sandy Ernsdorff, faced in helping cure her of cancer. In 1974, Michelle was diagnosed with a Wilm’s Tumor, a form of kidney cancer. The family began years of traveling to the Mayo Clinic for surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy and medical issues associated with treatment.

In honor of Mike & Sandy Ernsdorff, Compass to Care aims to supports these families by serving as their medical travel concierge. The Compass to Care team will both coordinate and pay for all travel arrangements, including airfare, bus fare, car rental, gas, lodging, meals, parking fees, taxi fees and train fare while traveling to seek the best cancer care for their children.

C2C believes that by serving as each family’s medical travel concierge, they will be able to focus solely on their child during this critical time. By providing this compass to their care, C2C is working to ensure each child diagnosed with cancer receives the best care and is cured, like Michelle was in 1975.

Amount Donated: $10

To support Compass to Care, please visit: http://compasstocare.org

Day 262: The Susan Cohan Kasdas Colon Cancer Foundation

I am attending the memorial service for a great friend today, Chris Ward Blumer, we lost her to colon cancer on December 27th, 2010. She was such a joy to be around all summer, she could fill any room with her positive energy. I have started a crowdrise project in her memory to raise funds for Livestrong Foundation, so far we’ve raised $376. While searching around crowdrise, I noticed Jasmin, a fellow crowdrise had a similar project to raise money in memory of her mother, who she lost to colon cancer, so I decided to donate to her project as well. 

The Susan Cohan Kasdas Colon Cancer Foundation began with one woman’s extraordinary fight against colon cancer. Susie’s Story ignited a community into action. The mission of Susie’s Cause is to dramatically reduce the death rate of colon cancer throughout the United States and across the world. With your help, together we can stop this dreaded disease.

MISSION:

  • Provide men and women of all ages the education and Facts About Screening to drive the # of screenings to record highs.
  • Educate and unite our youth with their parents to promote preventive screenings through our Save Our Parents Program
  • Insure that no individual is unable to access proper screening and care through our 
  • Screening For Everyone Program
  • Provide psychological support to all families immediately upon them hearing the devastating words “you have colon cancer.”
  • Aid in clinical trials and cutting edge research that will increase the speed that critical new medications and treatment regimens become available to the public.

Amount Donated: $10

To support The Susan Cohan Kasdas Colon Cancer Foundation, please visit: http://www.coloncancerfoundation.org

Day 260: LIVESTRONG

In the course of one week, Cancer has claimed the lives of two people in my life. My uncle to lung cancer and a friend to colon cancer. I had the pleasure of performing with Chris Ward Blumer in David Cromer’s production of Cherrywood at Mary-Arrchie this past summer. She was my hero, always positive and a joy to be around. Even when she was wearing her portable chemo pack during performance, she never missed a beat. She was an inspiration and it was blessing to work with her. 

On Monday, December 27, 2010, Chris passed away after her two-and-a-half year battle with cancer. In that struggle, Chris followed through on her initial vow to kick cancer’s butt and lived an amazing life that she has documented on her blog.

In lieu of flowers, Chris has asked to consider a donation to Livestrong. Since Chris was a big supporter of my Living Philanthropic blog and all the work I’ve been doing, I wanted to honor her memory and wish by starting a Crowdrise project in her name to raise money for Livestrong. This will also be Living Philanthropic’s featured charity for February. 

Founded in 1997 by cancer survivor and champion cyclist Lance Armstrong, the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) is a 501(c)3 charity that raises money and awareness for the fight against cancer. They empower the cancer community to address the unmet needs of cancer survivors. To do so, they encourage collaboration, knowledge-sharing and partnership. Livestrong develops evidence-based solutions to address both the common and unique problems survivors are facing around the world.

Amount Donated: $50

For more information about LIVESTRONG please visit: www.livestrong.org

To make a contribution to the Crowdrise project in Chris’ name please visit: http://www.crowdrise.com/LP-FEB

Day 253: International Myeloma Foundation

Today’s give comes from a recommendation from Jay H. who lost his mother to multiple myeloma, a rare cancer that affects the bone marrow and can spread slowly but aggressively. I’m sorry for your lost, Jay. 

Founded in 1990, the International Myeloma Foundation (IMF) is the oldest and largest myeloma organization, reaching more than 165,000 members in 113 countries worldwide. Dedicated to improving the quality of life of myeloma patients and their families, the IMF focuses in four key areas: research, education, support and advocacy. To date, the IMF has conducted more than 200 educational seminars worldwide, maintains a world-renowned hotline, and operates Bank on a Cure, a unique gene bank to advance myeloma research. The IMF helps everyone battling multiple myeloma - patients, families, friends, caregivers and the medical and scientific communities.

Multiple myeloma is a cancer of the bone marrow. Although there is currently no cure for myeloma, it is an eminently treatable disease. Many patients go on to lead full lives for years, even decades, after diagnosis.

It is a very individual disease. It is is often slow moving, but can sometimes be more aggressive. While the doctor assesses each particular situation and recommends the best approach, the patient plays a central role in helping make these individual treatment decisions. It is important that patients and their families be well informed, ask questions, and give serious thought to alternative strategies or options.

Myeloma is a tumor involving specialized white blood cells in the bone marrow. The cells that are affected are plasma cells, which are our antibody-producing cells. A malignant or cancerous plasma cell is called a myeloma cell. Myeloma is called “multiple” since there are frequently multiple patches or areas in bone where tumors or lesions have developed.

Amount Donated: $5

To support the International Myeloma Foundation, please visit: http://myeloma.org

Day 252: 4000 Miles of Hope Spin Marathon

I am not a rare individual, there are so many people out there promoting good in their communities. From volunteering to quietly making contributions to running marathons to raise funds and awareness, there are everyday heroes surrounding us, in every single community. I am so thankful for all that they do. Today’s give goes to help cancer research and funding, I am pledging my support to Cassie M.’s participation in the 4000 Miles of Hope Spin Marathon, all the proceeds go to fund cancer organizations in Charleston, SC. Good Luck, Cassie!

4000 Miles of Hope- An outreach project for cancer awareness with a lofty goal of raising $100,000 for multiple cancer organizations. Created by Jason Lowman in South Carolina, he organized a group of dedicated military members for focused outreach events such as mobile spinning for cancer awareness and fundraising at the Charleston and Mount Pleasant Farmer’s Markets, the Cancer Fighter ’09 Spin Marathon at Select Fitness and a very special visit to the Hollings Cancer Center. Their “military spinners” have been featured on Channel 5 WCSC TV as well as the Post and Courier.

Amount Donated: $5

To support 4000 Miles of Hope, please visit: http://4000milesofhope.com or pledge your support to Cassie here.

Day 250: Pancreatic Cancer Action Network

Yesterday was my uncle’s funeral, I am so sad that I could not be there, I feel lucky I was able to say goodbye to him at the hospital on the night he passed. I miss you, uncle Pete. Today’s give goes to another organization creating hope and funding research to fight pancreatic cancer. While my uncle had lung cancer, cancer can affect many different parts of the body and to help these specialized organizations is one way to help those directly affected. 

Founded in 1999 by three visionaries as a small, non-profit, 501(c)(3) patient-based advocacy organization, the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network understands the many challenges that patients and their families face in the fight against pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic Cancer Action Network is the national organization creating hope in a comprehensive way through research, patient support, community outreach and advocacy for a cure. The organization raises money for direct private funding of research—and advocates for more aggressive federal research funding of medical breakthroughs in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer.

The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network fills the void of information and options by giving patients and caregivers reliable, personalized information they need to make informed decisions. The organization helps support individuals and communities all across the country work together to raise awareness and funds to find a cure for pancreatic cancer. They create a sense of hope and community so no one has to face pancreatic cancer alone.

Amount Donated: $5

To support Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, please visit: http://www.pancan.org