reneek

Bumping in the hopes that some of you can come out on Saturday for our 3rd Annual Lung Cancer Walk!

Please join us for our 3rd Annual Lung Cancer Walk & Rally on Nov. 12th in Lisle Illinois. This year, the event is FREE of charge, with any donations being given to the Lung Cancer Initiative at the American Lung Association. Please attend, as we work to increase awareness of this disease. We have goody bags which include lung cancer ribbon keychains & magnets for your cars - these bags also include local coupons & goodies and are FREE to the 1st 300 people. 95.9 The River will be there playing the tunes and Yogi Bear will be there to provide smiles to the kids! Feel free to bring a picture of your loved one for our "honor wall." For more information, visit www.walkforlungcancer.org or contact Renee at rkosiarek@broadviewinc.net or 630-357-2276. We look forward to seeing you there.

I can help some --- I have done a relatively small (100-200 people) walk for the last 2 years in the Chicago area. PErsonally, I like doing them in Nov because there is so little going on for l.c. awareness month. On Nov. 5th - there will be 3 walks nationwide and it would be GREAT to add yours in Boston. I organized the one the 1st year in less time than you have know (I started in Sept I think). Anyway, feel free to PM me. Renee

Well thanks for the advice ... I really needed it as I have been struggling with this for awhile. SO, I think I will do the walk again, as it is a known thing and hopefully, I will get people who come from last year. I will make it more meaningful though - I am thinking some type of envir. friendly balloon release or a candlelighting ceremony or something like that (i.e. everyone holds a candle like at church and a poem is read or something - then, the candles are blown out for different groups (i.e. spouses, friends, etc) with survivors blowing theirs out last). Anyway, thanks again. ANY further thoughts are much appreciated. Renee

Thanks Katie. I don't think I can go wrong in either direction ... I have heard more friends/family say do the walk again, but I am not decided yet. Anyone else have input?

I am likely going to do either a walk or a candlelight vigil in Nov for l/c awareness month. I have done the walk 2X before and am considering that again but there is a fantastic walk/race in Sept in Chicago (mine would be in the burbs of Chicago). So, PLEASE chime in - should I do the walk or vigil? Which would you go to if any, if you lived in/near Chicago? Thanks! Renee

For the last 2 years, I organized a l/c walk in the Chicago area. This year, for the 1st time, there is a HUGE and fantastic lung cancer race happening in Chicago for the 1st time on Sept 10th. While it makes sense to do this run in Sept (since it is SO cold in Nov. here), I am feeling an urge to do something to honor LCAM. I am thinking of doing something different ... I am looking for ideas, but I frankly do not want to put a ton of work into something, because I just dont have the time. I was thinking about a candlelight vigil (to honor those who have l/c or have passed from it), some spin on a small walk, or a party (maybe one that would include a Pac-Man tournment, an 80's theme, etc --- just because it would be fun --- we could require certain dress, like no white or black - you must wear color because for once, l/cancer wont be invisible and will provide us with some fun). I also had a thought of something like "Lung to Lung event, aimed at preventing the #1 cancer killer" - this could be a candlelight vigil and also an event where people literally spread out and touch, with one hand holding their chest where the lung is, and the other holding another person's back where the lung is (sort of like hands across america). We stay there for a moment of silence & prayer - and could do that with the candlelight vigil. It would be awesome to have others do that as well in various cities. And we could charge a small fee & even raise some $. Any thoughts? What do you like best? Any other ideas? THANKS! Renee

Lungevity is selling clear wristbands - I think they say Breathe deep or something. They are nice.

If you think its good on paper, you should have seen her. Sandy, you are an amazing woman & I am so lucky we found you! Great work! THANK YOU! I know you inspired many people, including myself!

I hope some of you make it to our walk on Saturday! It should be a great occassion! Please join us if you live anywhere near Chicago! We will have some press there. If you want to read some of the press we have already gotten, take a look at: http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/sunp ... 04lung.htm http://www.dailyherald.com/search/main_ ... D=38295175 http://www.dailyherald.com/search/main_ ... ID=3829551

Please join us at our walk this year in Lisle, IL! We need your support for this event & this cause!

I am Renee Kosiarek and I have organized this walk. Last year, it was great and this year will be even better. Lisle is about 30-40 minutes West of Chicago (with little traffic) so please join us if you live near Chicago - we want lots of people to come so we can show others, including the press, that people DO care about lung cancer! Take a look at our website at www.lungcancerwalk.org or email me at rkosiarek@broadviewinc.net Thanks for your support! Renee

That is GREAT news. I have been looking here waiting to find out about you - so glad all is okay! -Renee

Hi everyone. I hope you all are well. We are working dilligently on 2nd Annual Lung Cancer Walk & Rally in Chicago, and hoping to get some great publicity and 250+ participants. We have a website under construction at www.lungcancerwalk.org - I hope all of you in or near Chicago can come! I am looking for a couple of survivors to speak briefly at this event. Any interest? Feel free to contact me at rkosiarek@broadviewinc.net I would also love to hear from anyone who wants to help work on the walk. Thanks!

This is a GREAT idea! I did it for my wedding (although not for l. cancer as it was before I was touched by the disease & aware of it really), and people loved it! Anyway, Lungevity raises $ only for research for lung cancer. I don't know what % is used for admin though, and what % is actually given for research. Check them out at www.lungevity.org and give them a call even! They are nice people!

I too am praying that the surgery goes very smoothly for your mom. Prayers are with your entire family!

I am so excited you are going to do a walk in MI! This is AMAZING news! Good for you! Again, it is SO rewarding! THANK YOU FOR DOING THIS! What amazing momentum we have going! Now, we have 4 - YES FOUR walks - going on in the U.S.! WOW! In early 2003, there were NONE that I could find! Now, we have FOUR! Next year, maybe 10! WOW! YEAH YEAH YEAH! Thank you Gianna! Let me know how I can help! Renee

You are on a ROLL! Great job. What great ideas! I imagine many many places will give you freebies like this, esp. since it is a tax deductible donation. If you offer to include their name or logo on your flyers, website (which we are working on), t-shirts or something, you might get even more responses! Great Great job! I can't wait to hear more!

Well, like I said, I started thinking that ANY walk, no matter how small, would be great! But I got so excited that it did grow. We had about 100 people at ours, in part because of friends/family & also because I wrote several press releases and we did get some press attention! With press releases, I will help anyone write them - and walks are a GREAT way to get attention focused on lung cancer! This year, we are expecting 500 people, but again, I have a lot of energy for this cause! Anyway, I chose to do my walk at a school track. I basically contacted several schools in the area, and most agreed to let us do it. A couple wanted to charge like 20$ an hour, but some allowed us to use it for free. Most wanted a certificate of liability insurance which I was able to get from ALCASE (they were wonderful). I did not need permission from the city, but I did check with them about this just in case (I just called them with the details). If you are doing a small walk, I would imagine you can just walk around your neighborhood no problem. However, it can't hurt to call the city & tell them about your "informal, small walk." If you want to do a larger one on the streets, you should contact the city. They will be able to talk to you about permits, police, etc. should you need it. That said, I wanted easy for my 1st year (and this year as well), and a school track worked perfect! Very very easy! Great questions! Keep them coming! Renee

Wow! We might have a walk in Boston too! GREAT! This momentum shows that we do make a difference. Again, I will help you in SO many ways, and get you on our website once it is up (hopefully in the next month). Great question about fundraising. You certainly can start your own 501c3 to do this, but I have so far chosen not to because I figure it is better to put the work in towards the walk than setting up a non-profit. So I chose an organization to give the money too that did work for lung cancer. I picked ALCASE, because I believed in raising awareness! Then, everyone made out their checks to ALCASE, and I forwarded the checks directly to them. Lungevity is great one as well, as is LCSC. Here is what I say about it in my primer: Pick a cause focused on lung cancer where you want your donations to go to. Some ideas are: A.L.C.A.S.E. (www.alcase.org), Lungevity (www.lungevity.org) and Lung Cancer Survivors for Change (www.lungcancersurvivors.org). You could also donate the money to a hospital with the agreement that it will be used for lung cancer research or give it to a local wellness house for lung cancer groups. Whatever you choose, pick a cause devoted to lung cancer that pulls at your heartstrings. Make sure, however, that they will provide you with what you need to make the walk a success. In Chicago, we needed a certificate of insurance to have the walk in a public place (such as a school). Therefore, our one request of the chosen charity was that they provide us with this insurance. Many 501c3 organizations with liability insurance will consider this request as they can often simply add your event to their policy. However, before finalizing your chosen charity, be sure to secure this promise for insurance should you need it. That said, if you do a simple walk, you won't need it. Does that make sense? Renee rkosiarek@broadviewinc.net

Great thoughts here! I really appreciate them. We did do shirts for the walk in Chicago this last year. I am planning on doing them again this year. Last year, we had not only survivors, but family members as well who attended the walk. I think it is VERY important for them to have a shirt as well. Last year we wrote "everybody with lung cancer is somebodys daughter or son, mother or father, sister or brother" - we did this to try and put a name/face to the disease! On the shirt, we had the picture of the ribbon with photos filling up the inside (from ALCASE). It was beautiful. While I like the slogans suggested, again, I want to include not just survivors, but family members. And while shirts are great (also a great way to get sponsors as you can include their logos on the back), they are not necessary. That said, I found a great company last year who I am sure would do walks for any area of the country at a great discount! I will give those who organize a walk that info should they so desire. Again, our walk is Nov. 6th and I think, just knowing people are walking all across the country on that date for the same cause would be AMAZING! Wouldn't it? And again, walking around the neighborhood IS still a great step! -Renee Kosiarek

I like the cartoon one! VEry clever!

Here was my response about the CA walk: Wow, that is such a neat coincidence on dates. Anyway, I am thrilled you want to organize a walk! SO thrilled! Have you read the email I sent to Gianna? The same thoughts and ideas apply to you! And I must say, you wanting to do one in CA makes us COAST TO COAST! How amazing. You have brought tears to my eyes! I do hope you will organize one, as it really can be quite simple. And so meaningful for you & others! I promise. I would love to talk with you about it. Please feel free to call me or let me know when I can call you. Also, I have a 3 page primer for how to do a lung cancer walk that I cut and pasted below. I can also send it to you, but I do not see how to do attachments here. Do you have a private email? Also, I will help you with EVERYTHING, from press releases (if you want to do them), to posters (if you want to do them). I also am working on a website and can give you a page or two on it (I would do this for every city having a walk) This is my passion, and I am so excited to see things happening now! You have already made a difference by reaching out! Thanks, Renee KOsiarek 630-357-2276

I love the "Lung Cancer Survivor on Board" bumper sticker idea. I also like the idea of something to put a name, face, PERSON to this disease. At the bottom of our shirts for the Lung Cancer Walk, we wrote "Everybody with lung cancer is somebody's daughter or son, mother or father, brother or sister" - I still like that. While I personally like the clear ribbon, I also think we need a color to represent lung cancer. This color could be used for all the print materials. I am trying to choose one for our walk posters myself. Perhaps we should all come to an agreement and make it the "unofficial" color?

My name is Renee and I lost my father in Dec. 2002 to lung cancer and my mother-in-law just last month to it as well. I have a passion, as do all of you it seems, to raise awareness of this disease! After my dad passed away, I was disheartened by the lack of attention given to walks. There seemed to be no corporate sponsorship or assistance, and no walks for people to gather in the name of this cause. Yet there were walks for almost every other cause out there. And walks, I believe, are one of the best ways to get publicity. They are also usually not very expensive, and make people feel like they are doing something! So I decided to do something about this. Thus, last year in Nov. 2003, I organized (almost completely on my own) the 1st Annual Lung Cancer Walk & Rally. It took place in a suburb about 30 minutes from downtown Chicago, and was a huge success. We had a 1 mile walk (which was actually a nice distance b.c. even those who were slightly ill or out of shape could participate) and all of the money went to ALCASE. We had about 100 participants, but even more exciting was we were able to get several articles published about the walk and lung cancer, and were also on a couple of radio stations. A local station even covered the walk! Finally, people started to know that lung cancer does get attention and there IS a walk for this cause. I share my story for 2 reasons! One is that we are planning the 2nd Annual Walk & Rally in the Chicagoland area, and it will be bigger than ever! So for any of you in Chicago, let me know if you want to participate. 2nd, it is my goal to have walks like this going all over the country! And I will do anything that I can to help people put them together. It is not as hard as it seems, as one can definately start small (remember, something is better than nothing). I have tips for how to get started, as well as letters and emails that can be copied and sent to your local papers and such. I will help coach anyone through the process, because it would be amazing to have walks across the country! And again, it takes some time, but is not that hard - after all, so many people have been touched by this disease, that they too will want to help, donate or attend. Imagine the publicity we can get if we have several walks nationwide! I imagine that would give us some at least. But more important, people will begin to see that lung cancer IS an important cause and should NOT be ignored. Also, those that have been touched by the disease will finally have a place to rally and walk. PLEASE PLEASE consider having a walk in your area. The money can go to any lung cancer cause you like. I promise, you will feel so rewarded if you just start planning. Again, I am here to help you in any way I can. Feel free to post here, send me a private message, or even email me directly at rkosiarek@broadviewinc.net Together, we CAN do it! Renee