Woman of the Year Candidate: Kim Carter

Kim Carter is a candidate for the inaugural Woman of the Year candidates for the North Texas Chapter and is a longtime supporter of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS).  She was instrumental in implementing a multi-year partnership between the Big D Climb and her former employer, 24 Hour Fitness.  Kim's motivation to raise money for LLS is very personal.  Read below to learn the source of her motivation and her plans for her Woman of the Year campaign. 

Name:
Kim Carter

Occupation:
Vice President, Sales and Operations for The Dean's List

Connection to Blood Cancers:
My journey to support blood cancer research began in October 2003 when my mother, Johanna Elizabeth Carter, lost her battle with leukemia.  (Watch Kim's moving video about her mother by clicking here.)  I vowed then to support blood cancer research and have continued in the following years to support an organization in Indianapolis that provided free housing for families while cancer patients were receiving treatment.  Over a three year period, starting in 2010, I engaged my employer, 24 Hour Fitness, to become a corporate sponsor of the Big D Climb.

Campaign Strategy:
I plan to document my journey via social media and share my mom's story with everyone I come in contact with during this 10 week campaign.  To kick it off, I created this video that talks about my mother and our family's experience during her leukemia battle.

Upcoming Fundraising Event:
I will be hosting a wine tasting event on May 28th and the proceeds will go towards my fundraising efforts.  You can learn more about this event on my fundraising page.

Why Should You Be the Woman of the Year in North Texas:
I have been supported and participated on behalf of LLS since 2003 via various fundraising activities.  In addition, I have encouraged everyone I know to participate in raising funds and awareness for research.

Where Can People Follow You:
1. My campaign website: http://www.mwoy.org/pages/ntx/dfw15/kcarter
2. Join me in my Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Challenge by posting who and why you chose to donate on your Facebook page.  Tag me in your post via my MWOY fundraising page.

You can purchase tickets or tables to the Man and Woman of the Year Grand Finale on Saturday, May 30th at www.mwoy.org/ntx and find out who wins in person!

National Volunteer Week: Big D Climb

Here's to all volunteers, those dedicated people who believe in all work and no pay. 

~Robert Orben

Kim Carter, center, with two trainers from 24 Hour Fitness
at the 2013 Big D Climb

This week is National Volunteer Week and while The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is thankful for its volunteers year round, we are taking this opportunity to highlight seven outstanding volunteers that help make the North Texas chapter run so efficiently.

Kim Carter, the Regional Manager of Corporate Sales for Texas for 24 Hour Fitness, first became involved with the Big D Climb shortly after she became a club manager at the Downtown Dallas 24 Hour Fitness location.  24 Hour Fitness had become a sponsor with the event a year earlier but it is Kim who is credited with expanding the sponsorship and getting 24 Hour Fitness more involved with the Big D Climb and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS).

Kim's connection to LLS and its mission is very personal.  Her mother, Johanna Carter, was diagnosed with MDS in her early 60s and it quickly turned into leukemia.  Johanna's age at the time of diagnosis kept her from being eligible to receive a bone marrow transplant and after three weeks of chemotherapy, she lost her battle.  During her treatment in Annapolis, Kim flew in every week and stayed at the Hope House when not with her mother in the hospital.  It was during those trips that Kim pledged to get move involved in the effort to find a cure for blood cancers.

Several years after first getting 24 Hour Fitness involved with the Big D Climb, Kim continues to ask "what more can we do?"  She has expanded the involvement of 24 Hour Fitness as a sponsor, created teams of trainers and members to participate, and is now working to expand 24 Hour Fitness' involvement with LLS' stair climbing events to other cities.

We are so thankful for Kim!