Day 31 - Service Day #3

Chicago, IL

For today's service day, we headed over to Imerman Angels in downtown Chicago. The Imerman Angels have a similar goal as that of the Ulman Foundation - providing a community of support for cancer patients, only the Imerman program centers around one-on-one connections between cancer fighters and survivors, connecting people with the same cancer, no matter what age they are, what cancer they have, or where they live around the world. As our actual service, in order to spread the word about the organization, we handed out Lemonheads and informational cards to people on the streets of Chicago, primarily around the Bean. We handed out Lemonheads in particular because they can help with the bad taste cancer patients can get in their mouths when they are receiving chemotherapy, and sucking on the sour treat can help prevent mouth sores from forming during treatment. It was interesting to try to approach random strangers and offer them free Lemonheads, but we explained the Imerman Angels' mission to those who accepted. Some people didn't seem interested at all, but it was cool to see a lot of people light up when they heard what the Imerman program's goal is, and we also explained our mission with 4K for Cancer to many people who wished us well.

The first person I went up to at the Bean actually said she is currently fighting cancer herself, and she was touched by what we were doing. Another crazy day of seeing such meaningful connections with complete strangers. The day we got to Boston, we actually met a two-time cancer survivor who takes people's pictures at the Bean and posts them on Facebook (her Facebook page is "Jumping at the Bean"). Some of my teammates and I had a teary-eyed conversation with her as she explained that she has battled non-Hodgkins lymphoma and then breast cancer, and she also lost her mother to cancer; she was touched when we said we will dedicate one of our running days to her and her family.

Overall, day 31 was a great day in Chicago!