Two Elon University juniors employ their love of running as a fundraiser for pediatric cancer patients and their families.
What do you do when health and injury issues end your days on the cross country team? Run a marathon, of course, and collect thousands of dollars for cancer research in the process.
Elon University juniors Jacqueline Alnes and Sullivan Parkes travel to the nation’s capital region on Oct. 30 to compete in the 2011 Marine Corps Marathon. The women pledged this fall to raise money by running the 26.2-mile race for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer, a nonprofit based outside Philadelphia that funds pediatric cancer research and support systems for affected families.
As part of what’s been dubbed “Team Lemon,” Alnes and Parkes have access to fundraising and race coaches, not to mention a support system of like-minded runners with a similar interest in helping cancer patients still receiving visits from the Tooth Fairy. They’ve already raised more than $3,000 from family, friends, classmates and neighbors.
“We thought that running for a charity would make running for a marathon more meaningful and memorable,” Parkes said in a recent interview, sitting side-by-side with Alnes in the Irazu coffee shop. “Childhood cancer doesn’t get much publicity. And it was something we both never thought about until we read the statistics.”
The National Cancer Institute reports that in 2007, approximately 10,400 children under the age of 15 were diagnosed with some form of cancer. Leukemia and brain cancer represent the two most common types of the disease in the childhood population.
Alnes, an English major from Tulsa, Okla., and Parkes, an exercise science major from Winchester, Va., forged a deep friendship when they ran with the university’s women’s cross country team and lived in the same Danieley flat as freshmen. Alnes left the squad after her first semester, and Parkes departed following her second season, both for reasons they said were tied to injuries and health.
It was almost natural they would search for a charitable cause to support in their quest to complete a marathon. Alnes and Parkes still run together. They volunteer to take care of animals at the Blakey Hall assisted living facility near campus. They also spend time each month volunteering at the Burlington animal shelter through an Elon Volunteers! program.
Why pediatric cancer research? The two women smiled at the question, noting how their love for animals – Parkes’ grandfather raised race horses in Kentucky – took second seat to helping humans. “People, in the end, were more important to us,” Alnes said. “For childhood cancer research, it’s meaningful in a different way.”
The story of Alex’s Lemonade Stand tugged at their heartstrings. Alexandra “Alex” Scott was diagnosed with cancer just before her first birthday. According to the foundation’s website, shortly after a stem cell transplant at the age of 4, Scott vowed to her parents that when she left the hospital she wanted to raise money through a lemonade stand to help others.
Sure enough, she did just that, donating $2,000 from her initial project. By the time cancer took her life in 2004 at the age of 8, Scott’s annual lemonade enterprise, with the help of others, had collected more than $1 million.
Officials with Alex’s Lemonade Stand lauded the two Elon students. They noted how the foundation relies on dedicated volunteers such as the 22 runners signed up for “Team Lemon” to carry out its mission.
“It not only creates awareness, it raises donations for childhood cancer research, which is really exciting,” said Jennifer Kelly, a fundraising specialist and co-coordinator for the marathon runners. “And people feel motivated to do something maybe they’ve never tried before.”
No, neither of the Elon juniors have completed a marathon. Neither has run more than 20 miles at a stretch. That doesn’t mean they expect anything less than crossing the finish line on Sunday. “As a runner,” Alnes said, “the marathon is something you want to be able to say you’ve done in your lifetime.”
To contribute to Alnes and Sullivan with Team Lemon, visit their personal fundraising site through the foundation website.