Community Service-Cancer Walk

Yesterday, I attended a cancer walk/run hosted by the Wellness Center in Palatine. There were several tents set up: a volunteer tent, a registration tent, a food tent, a DJ tent, and a raffle tent. Dana, the coordinator of the volunteers, set me up by the starting line and the 5k run began first. Most of the runners had white Wellness Center Cancer Walk shirts and the cancer survivors had on purple ones. I was one of the few volunteers at the starting line and while the people were running, we monitored the walkway and made sure no cars happened to drive through. Then, when people were finishing up the run, we cheered them on, congratulated them, thanked them for coming, and offered them gatorade. This was the second year the Wellness Center has held the walk/run and there were less walk-on runners this year due to the extremely cold weather.

Then, the walk began. We continued monitoring everything and a volunteer drove around in U-Haul van, to make sure all the runners were done and that no cars were on the walk again. People walked with their family members, with their friends, and even with their dogs. Some had on their own specially made shirts, remembering love ones that lost their battle to cancer and some were walking with the cancer survivors in their life. One cancer survivor participated in the walk on his scooter, with his granddaughter in his lap. It was a very welcoming environment and the faces on the walkers/runners at the finish line were amazing. They were so happy and passionate about what they were doing and one family even took turns hugging us, the volunteers.

During the walk, I met Therese and she told me a little bit about the Wellness Center. They're an organization that provides many different types of free therapy to those with cancer, giving them with a supporting environment and showing them others that are going through the same things. She decided to help volunteer at the Wellness Center a while after her daughter was diagnosed with cancer. A lot of the survivors participating in this event were members of the Wellness Center and when you saw them talking to other survivors, you could sense the genuine happiness they were experiencing while being in this environment.

After the walk, there was a balloon releasing ceremony and while the balloons were flying in the sky, a lot of people got emotional. I had volunteered at a cancer walk before, but I hadn't come out feeling as great as I did yesterday. Even though I was freezing and could no longer feel my hands, I was content because I had met some great people, and I hope to someday participate in the run in tributes to my aunt who lost her life to ovarian cancer.