Walk for Childhood Cancer

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 27, 2012

Michigan Optimist Club’s cancer walk challenges community to

“Take a Step Towards a Cure”

~  Walk4Kids   ~

(Ann Arbor, Michigan) – The Michigan District Optimists encourage everyone to “Take a Step Towards a Cure” to rid the world of childhood cancer, by participating in the 2012 Childhood Cancer Campaign “Walk4Kids”.  This walk, a part of the Optimist International Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, will be held:

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Skyline High School

2552 N. Maple Rd

(at M-14 and Maple Road)

Ann Arbor, MI

Sign-in and onsite registration will be from 8:30 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. The walk begins at 10:00 a.m.  Advance individual and team registrations are available online at www.michiganoptimists.org.  Each participant that raises at least $25 will receive a T-Shirt.  Proceeds raised from this first annual Michigan Optimist’s “Walk4Kids” event will benefit the Michigan District Optimist Childhood Cancer Campaign and Special Days Children’s Cancer Camps.

Participants can choose either a 2k or 4k route around Skyline High School, with both routes being handicap accessible.  Both routes will talk participants through beautiful natural areas that surround the new modern high school.

“Optimist volunteers from all around Michigan are putting on their athletic shoes and getting out to walk and show that they are ready to ‘take a step towards a cure’ and make a positive difference in the life of a child”, said Michigan District Optimist Governor Ray Finocchio.  He further commented, “Michigan Optimists are excited to participate in such a worthwhile event and can’t wait to do what we can do to help Special Days Children’s Cancer Camps and Childhood Cancer Programs throughout Michigan.”

The Optimist International Childhood Cancer Campaign (CCC) was established in 2001, in hopes of “providing the care and finding the cure” specifically for childhood cancer.  For the past 11 years, this program has supported young people fighting cancer; supported cancer patients’ families and caregivers; provided support to healthcare providers; and funded critical cancer research that is not supported by federal funding. 

Each year, June is set aside as a special time for Optimists to focus on fighting this horrific disease and its devastating effects.  Optimist International is funding its own Endowed Research Fellowship at Johns Hopkins Medical Center to insure that a Research Oncologist is always focused on finding a cure for the most prevalent form of childhood cancer.  To date Optimists have contributed over One Million Dollars ($1,000.000.00) to this effort.

Optimist International is one of the world’s largest service organizations, with 3,400 clubs worldwide, including the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Mexico. Carrying the motto “Bringing Out the Best In Kids,” Optimists conduct positive service projects that reach more than six million young people each year.

For more information about the event or becoming a sponsor, please call Jerry Kelly at 734.434.8272 or visit www.michiganoptimists.org.