Turn Your Passion into Purpose with the American Cancer Society

“This post is sponsored by American Cancer Society; however, all thoughts and opinions are my own.”

Have you ever had a family member or friend affected by cancer? The feeling is so powerless knowing that you aren’t in control and that there is nothing you can do to alter the outcome. Being scared or sad or angry or whatever emotion comes to the surface is okay. Though you can’t directly help medically, I’m here to tell you there is a way you can turn your passion into purpose to help.

My Cancer Connection

When my stepmother was pregnant with my brother Landon when she discovered a lump in her breast. Only being in her 30’s, she had it checked out and it turned out to be stage 3 breast cancer. Her mother died of breast cancer, so she knew she had to start treatment as soon as possible. She fought and after a mastectomy, she won that battle. Fast forward a couple of years later and we found out she had breast cancer again in her other breast and lymph nodes in her armpit. Though she fought as long as she could, the cancer metastasized and rapidly spread into her lungs and brain. At the young age of 41, she finally lost her battle.

At the time, I was living in Hawaii and didn’t have an opportunity to get back in time to say goodbye. I hate that I missed out on her final days and wish there was more I could have done living so far away.

Passion into Purpose

The American Cancer Society(ACS) is a non-profit health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer. It is their mission to save lives, celebrate lives, and be a leader when it comes to eliminating cancer worldwide. Because ACS strives to attack cancer from every angle they have created an initiative to raise money and awareness your way. By turning your passion into purpose, you have the opportunity to create a fundraiser for anything you are passionate about and give back. Whatever your passion is, you can create a fundraiser your way to help. Something like this would have been the perfect solution for me to actively help my stepmother in an indirect way even from across the country.

Raise Your Way

The possibilities are endless when it comes to raising your way but here are just a few ways to turn your passion into purpose with the American Cancer Society.

Get Active

If you live and breathe going to the gym or being active, turn it into a perfectly healthy fundraiser. You can organize a local hike and make it as simple for all ages or more difficult if that’s your stride. Are you a runner? Why not throw together a 5k? You could get the community involved or even create a virtual 5k to include family from all over. Rather stay inside and cycle? You can do that too! Talk to your gym about hosting a cycling fundraiser for cancer and get your fellow riders to join in on the fun.

Get Crafty

Are you more of an artsy person and want to turn your passion into purpose too? Perfect! You could host a craft night for families in your neighborhood. Another option is hosting your own wine and paint party for adults and teaching them how to create a beautiful cancer-related masterpiece while raising awareness. Do you show your art through movement? That works too! Throw a dance party and shake the night away while raising funds for a cause.

Get Together

Would you prefer to get together with your closest friends and family? Host a dinner party! If you’re more of the laid back type you can always host a cornhole tournament to put a competitive and fun spin on raising funds.

How to Get Started

Getting started is very simple and only takes a few minutes. Once you are all set up, you can get started right away!

Step 1 – Go to crowdrise.com/americancancersociety and follow the prompts to “Start a Fundraiser.”

Step 2 – Choose where you’d like your donation to go.

Step 3 – Create your account using Facebook or manually with your email. Here you can keep track of how much money you’ve raised and more!

Step 4 – Name your fundraiser and set a goal. You can aim for the stars or aim for something easily in reach.

Step 5 – Share, share, share! Get your fundraiser out on social media, email, where ever you’d like to share to get the word out.

Sharing these 3 ways to turn your passion into purpose with the American Cancer Society is my way of support and sharing awareness. For me, it means that if nothing else, maybe this can be a reminder someone needs to get a medical issue looked into.