Date: October 17, 2009
Time: 3:30-7:00PM
Location: Forest Park, Woodhaven (my neighborhood!)
Light the Night is an event that aims to help people fighting or survivors that have fought blood cancers, like leukemia and lymphoma. It aims to raise money for blood cancer victims by sending the proceeds and donations to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Participants walk a few miles at night holding up a red, lighted balloon with their teams or alone to commemorate the event. Participants can also volunteer like me, to be in charge of registering walkers and participants into the event.
I selected to do this event not only because it was held a block away from where I live, but most especially because of its aim to help cancer patients and survivors, particularly lymphoma. My grandmother is battling with lymphoma, and I will never forget the moment that I found out about it. My grandmother is a second mother to me and to hear of her suffering from blood cancer had hit me hard. I chose this event to somehow celebrate her and her very strong faith at battling lymphoma, just like the many survivors and people who have and had the disease.
This event definitely did not take me outside my comfort zone. I found my job as a volunteer quite enjoyable especially, with the LC-06 group there. I personally like doing volunteer jobs, but lately I didn’t have time to do any, and Light the Night was a very convenient and special opportunity that I had to take.
The event did not fail my expectations at all. It was a lively event, and there were actually more participants that arrived and registered than what I expected. I noticed that there were many high school students who came as teams, and many had donated a huge amount, as well. I would definitely, definitely recommend this to another student, regardless of whether he or she knows someone who is or was a cancer victim. One would definitely feel accomplished in the end, despite the long amount of time standing and yelling, “REGISTRATION LINE DOWN THIS WAY!” I know I did.
The event made me realize the simple ways I can help an individual and the whole—in this case, blood cancer victims and survivors. I noticed the variety of ways people played a part in “donating,” whether through hundreds of dollars in check (which earned them a t-shirt) or single dollar bills or simply, making a remembrance banner and walking along with a red lighted balloon.