Face It, Fight It, Cure It.

Saint Xavier University, Chicago Illinois -

As The Cure It team arrived to setup for the first annual Fire Up A Cure, 5 firefighters were already on the scene excited for the days festivities and ready to help.  After many months of planning, the partnership between The Cure It Foundation and Chicago-land firefighters had begun and the day would not disappoint a soul.

With many teams walking around in original t-shirts showcasing their fire house name along side The Cure It Foundation logo, every team was there to support the kids from their community – oh yea, and to take home the four foot trophy to house at their station over the next year.

 

Tug of war appropriately kicked off the event as teams of four fought and pulled to move on to the next round.  Immediately, energy filled the gym as supporters of each house cheered on their team.  The Palos team – The Randies and eventual winners – took the first event and the competitive nature of all involved became red hot.  From the obstacle course to the joust, fire truck pull on to the culminating event, a wing eating contest, every team fought for victory.  Most importantly, everyone was sharing a laugh and smiling.

In addition to all of the competition, families filled the Shannon Center to support their local fire houses and have fun with music, art, a magic show and a variety of inflatable toys.  By the end of the day, the event was full of original art by kids from the community, balloon animals and a bunch of smiling kids – covered in face paint.  We knew that things were perfect when multiple children begged their parents to let them stay longer! On this special day, fighters, survivors, siblings and healthy kids were given the chance to be kids!!!

 

 

Fire Up A Cure is here to stay – An event that brings the community together and showcases the importance of the fight, the importance of people coming together to take care of kids, the importance of each and children, especially those of which are fighting this life threatening illness.

 

View pictures from the event here

With the support of the community and Marist High School, The Cure It Foundation brought together kids fighting cancer with the Chicago Bears running back, Matt Forte. The event was designed to be “all about the kids,” and that’s exactly how it came together.

Cure It volunteers and the Marist Football team assured that each and every kid fighting cancer were smiling as they played basketball, enjoyed dance games and jumped around in a bounce house, prior to Forte’s arrival.  As they were directed into the main gym, the excitement was uncontrollable and led to 10-15 questions for the Chicago star.  Questions ranged from, “Why are you so cool?,” from 4 year old Gavin to, “What is your favorite team to play against?,” from one of the cancer survivors spending the day at Marist.  Matt was more than gracious, answering every question in a way that made the kids feel that he was there as part of the Cure It team.

Following pictures and the opportunity to speak with and meet Forte, the kids exploded through a banner as they were introduced one-by-one by the Marist football announcer. Matt spent over an hour with the kids, throwing touchdown passes, guarding the kids as they tried to show off their moves and assuring that every child left with a smile.  ”It was one of the most memorable times of my life,” yelled a 10 year old fighter of leukemia.

The Cure It Foundation was started as a way to take care of children throughout the community and help kids be kids.  Matt Forte and the team at popchips partnered with Cure It on Friday to fulfill this mission and create an experience that will always be remembered.  Thank you Matt! Thank you popchips!

Thanks to our kids, your siblings, your parents and all of your friends!  You are the inspiration for all of this and we love each and everyone of you.

 

The Cure It Foundation has reason to brag!

After hearing about the popchips game changers challenge in Chicago, the team came together to vote over 2000 times and place Cure It in first place. Finishing in the top 5 moves the Foundation on to the ‘judging’ portion of the challenge and gives Cure It a chance to partner with Chicago Bears star running back, Matt Forte, in an event to support fighters and survivors of pediatric cancer!

This effort speaks volumes about the creativity and ability of our team and the passion we have for kids fighting cancer.  Ginny and I are proud of the hard work and dedication of the Cure It Foundation team!

Together we will Face It, Fight It, Cure It!

It’s time for our team to reach out to the community and our supporters to say, “Thank You!”.  As the Cure It Foundation has grown over the last 18 months, we have met more and more people who care about the kids fighting cancer.  All of you have become our friends and are instrumental in the success of the foundation.  As we approach the official word that we are indeed a fully accredited 501(c)(3) we want each and everyone of you to know how much you mean to the team.  Most importantly, we want you to know that our kids are lucky to have you.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

The Cure It Team

Another beautiful March day – Sunny and 80 degrees.  What a day to spend a couple of hours with classmates, friends and family.  On March 16th, Worth Junior High School brought together the whole school and guests from The Cure It Foundation to show their support as everyone joined the fight to CURE childhood cancer.

Hundreds of cheering kids, family members, teachers and community supporters filled the gym as over 20 devoted kids and some adults willingly shaved their heads to support Chase Cook (Hodgkin’s Lymphoma), his family and children all over Chicago fighting cancer.  “It was truly amazing!” says Bree Roberts, an active member of The Cure It Foundation, “to see this many people come together, especially this many kids, all for Chase and the Cure It mission was awesome!”

At the end of the school day everyone left with a smile on their face, some left with no hair and the student body of Worth Junior High proudly raised over $10,000 to support Cure It and kids fighting cancer.

Our sincerest thanks to the school and the Cook family!

 

It’s that time of the year again!  The Shave!

This is the time of the year when supporters of Cure It and pediatric cancer voluntarily shave their heads to unify with the kids and to raise money — Bringing together fighters, survivors and the community to say, “We are in this together!”

Some of the members of The Cure It Foundation will be shaving their heads on Friday the 16th of March with a group of colleagues and patients.  As you can see, for some of us it is long overdue. Please continue to support us and efforts such as The Shave, as we work hard to cure this horrible illness.

To donate to The Shave click here:

As we head into the late winter, early spring golf is on the mind… 

The Cure It Foundation is pleased to announce its 2nd Annual Cure It Golf Outing.  The event will be held on Saturday, May 19th at Water’s Edge Golf Course and will benefit all of the kids fighting childhood cancer.

A great way to kick-off the 2012 golf season with a scramble event, great give-a-ways, raffles and auction items, as well as… GLOW-GOLF — This will give all golfers a chance to win a grand prize with a glow in the dark, closest to the pin contest.

Golf, Food, Spirits and chance to Win Prizes included!

Sign up now by clicking here:    

Our Core Values define the foundations passion…

Kids, Ideas, Family, Hard Work, Offering a Hand Up and importantly the Future.

Day-to-day we grow as a foundation, as we stay passionate about our ultimate goal – to CURE childhood cancer.  Committed to supporting the Children’s Oncology Group, CureSearch and national research we always stay true to these values in order to care for the kids.

And now, we are excited to offer a hand up to the kids in our community as we directly give back to better their future.  Whether we help fighters achieve academic success, survivors overcome physical consequences of their treatment or siblings address their emotions, our team is dedicated to all of these kids, all of our kids.

Thanks for all of your support!  Keep true to these values and we will achieve the mission.

Face It, Fight It, Cure It!

This blog allows our partners and supporters to join the team and learn more about pediatric cancer.

The Cure It Foundation was founded by a group of people touched in different ways by kids who fight everyday to survive.  Kids think about being kids. Simply, they think about going to school tomorrow, playing in a basketball game this weekend and what they want for their 7th birthday.   We want them to achieve all of their dreams and goals.

Contributing to their cure and assuring a fulfilling future drives our mission.  We want kids to be kids, and don’t want cancer to get in their way.

Register with Cure It to be a part of the team and to comment on our blog.

Cure It blogging starts today!  Thanks for your support!