My Family Does Something Charitable

My community has a great local facility called the Cancer Support Center.  It's an independent non-profit organization that provides support services for people with cancer and their families--services like education, counseling, yoga, meditation, support groups, craft groups, and massage.  All services are provided free of charge, which means the center relies on fundraising for its operating budget.

Today my family and I participated in one of the center's largest fundraisers, the Walk of Hope.

I also do volunteer work at the center, so I helped with registration and check-in for the walk.  Here is Nathan demonstrating what I did at the registration table.

Also he's enjoying my free volunteer bagel.

Here's Nathan modeling his t-shirt, and that very same bagel.  His face is dark but the background provides a good crowd shot. 

Relieved of my registration duties, we headed to the starting line.  We were in the last group to start, because we elected to walk the shortest distance, which was one mile.  We blamed the decision on Nathan and his slow walking speed/tendency to whine.

As a bonus, Leia's mouse toy came to the walk in Nathan's pocket:

Here's me with Trainer Jill, who is a breast cancer survivor:

I am her favorite client. 

Family picture, photo by Trainer Jill:

We made tribute stickers and put them on the big wall that said "HOPE."  This is a sticker I made for a fellow blogger, Susan, who I don't know in real life but who is bravely fighting cancer:

This is a sticker Nathan made in tribute to his grandma, who is a breast cancer survivor:

It was also the emergency contact info he wore on his shirt, so I blurred out my cell number.

The high school cheerleaders cheered for us at the finish line:

After the walk we got free lunch from Culver's, Chili's, and Aurelio's. There was a bouncy castle and face painting for the kids.  It was a super fun day, and I'm glad we were able to help such a wonderful local charity.