September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
The childhood cancer community has launched a collaborative effort to raise awareness about the disparity in funding for childhood cancer research. Children with cancer are children with cancer, not small adults with cancer; yet, most current cancer treatment protocols are made for adults, and are administered to children's growing bodies with lasting and detrimental side effects. Lucy's Love Bus offers comfort and quality of life to children who have been diagnosed with cancer, either currently undergoing treatment or suffering from late effects... those for whom a cure will come too late. By banding together to raise money and awareness in hopes of creating appropriate treatment protocols, we can all affect a real difference to help kids be kids.
Here are some ways to get involved in the fight against childhood cancer, and for kids with cancer.
1. Learn the childhood cancer facts. We have some infographics on our website here. The facts are startling; save some infographics and bookmark the link, and share throughout the month of September (and beyond) to help others understand the disparity of funding and unfairness of it all. Here's a quick snippet: less than 4% of funding raised nationally each year for cancer research goes towards a cure for childhood cancers and the development of new drugs to help treat children with cancer like children with cancer, rather than like small adults with cancer. The outdated treatments still being administered to children's growing bodies leave lasting detrimental side effects.
2. Join one of our FUNdraisers! Tandem skydive for charity with us on September 8th through our Leap for Love fundraiser, or zipline and climb around Take Flight Aerial Adventure Course on September 7th or 8th during the Climb for Comfort (10% of the weekend's proceeds will be donated to Lucy's Love Bus)!
3. Share the Love with a supporting business this September! Businesses all over New England are supporting Lucy's Love Bus to make a difference in the life of a child with cancer by offering special deals in September that equal donations to Lucy's Love Bus, like $1 from every Sparkling Lemonade purchased at Brewery Silvaticus in Amesbury, or 20% of all new patient appointments in September at North Shore Acupuncture! Stop by and support one of these businesses who are in turn supporting Lucy's Love Bus! The full list of businesses is at lucyslovebus.org/sharethelove.
4. Follow Lucy's Love Bus on Facebook and Instagram (@lucys_love_bus). All month long (and throughout the year!) we'll be posting articles, blogs, opinion pieces, testimonials, stories from our own families, photos, memories, videos, and more all highlighting the countless ways childhood cancer has impacted families around the globe, and the work our organization and the childhood cancer community as a whole is doing to help children receive the comfort and quality of life they deserve, during treatment and beyond.
5. Read our Butterfly Blog for a real sense of what it's like to have a child with cancer. Posts are written anonymously by the mom of one of our Love Bus heroes, with some special guest posts sprinkled in between.
6. Watch and share our videos! We have some incredible videos by CNN, Coldwell Banker, and highlighting our Lucy's KidCorps™ program! Videos are a great way to introduce our work to everyone you know, putting some real-life names and faces to the impact of childhood cancer. And of course, the original "Lucy Was" video, introducing you to our incredible founder.
7. #HashtagYourHeartOut! The childhood cancer community is calling on social media to get the word out there about childhood cancer! The community is focusing on hashtags #MoreThan4, #GoGold, #BeBoldGoGold, #ChildhoodCancer to try to help our cause go as viral as possible throughout this month and beyond. Here are a few tweets already composed for you- just copy, paste, and tweet!
- Less than 4% of funding for cancer research goes towards childhood cancers. Our kids are worth #MoreThan4! @LucysLoveBus
- Average years of life lost for kids with cancer: 71. Avg years of life lost for adults with cancer: 15. #ChildhoodCancerStats @LucysLoveBus
- 3 children a minute and 20 kids per hour are diagnosed with cancer worldwide. #GoGold #ChildhoodCancerStats @LucysLoveBus
8. Change your profile photo or cover photo! They're the first thing everyone sees when they check in to see what you're up to, so how about some free conversation starters?! All of your friends' interest will be peaked, so don't forget to start with #1 on our list ;) Check out the images below!
(And some more Lucy's Love Bus-centric ways to get involved in the fight FOR children with cancer!)
9. Sign up for our enewsletter! Stay in the loop about upcoming events in New England and online, ways to be involved, and see your donor dollars at work through what some of our kids are up to! We send enewsletters out quarterly and before our big events to make sure you have a chance to stay involved and mark your calendar!
10. Become a monthly donor as a member of our Lucy's LoveCorps™! Monthly donations give Love Bus the fuel we need to ensure continuity of the therapies and activities our Love Bus heroes look forward to and depend on, to help keep the bus rollin'! Donation levels begin at $5 or $10 per month, and they make a measurable impact on the work we do; no donation amount is too small, but any amount equals a considerable difference in our ability to continue to help children with cancer. Sign up now, or click here for more info.
11. Get your kids on board! For children of all ages, near and far, check out our partnership with KidsCanGiveToo! Kids invite guests to their birthday party, and instead of wrapped gifts they make monetary contributions, which are split between the child and Lucy's Love Bus. Read more here!
12. Read and share the story of Lucy and the wacky ways in which she learned to cope with all the changes that cancer brought to her life in our new children's book, A Lion Inside. Written by Beecher Grogan and illustrated by H.T. Yao, 100% of proceeds from sales go towards Lucy's Love Bus.
13. Shop til you drop! That's right, there are great ways to help kids with cancer just by clicking your mouse! Start your Amazon search at our AmazonSmile link, for an automatic donation from Amazon to Lucy's Love Bus! Remember to start shopping here, every time!
14. Host a cocktail party or another fundraiser to help raise funds for kids with cancer! Get in touch with Beecher for more info! Our supporters have hosted everything from bake sales to polar plunges, paper crane-a-thons to fancy dances! Be creative, and help a child with cancer!
15. Tap your toes to a tune to help Lucy's Love Bus! Download "Fly" by Ahmir, our wonderful friends who so graciously donate a portion of proceeds from the download of this song to help our families and children with cancer.
And last but not least...
16. Refer a family in New England to Lucy's Love Bus. Help us help others by connecting us to families in need. Do you know of a family with a child with cancer, life-threatening illness, or chronic medical condition not developmental in nature who would benefit from attending programs at The Sajni Center in Amesbury? Send them our way! New families can apply for the code to register at lucyslovebus.org/sajnicode.
17. Join us at an event soon! We hope to see you soon-- check out lucyslovebus.org/calendar for our upcoming events!
