I have been with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) about seven years. Most of that time was as a volunteer or part time recruiter for Team In Training, the School & Youth (S&Y) program or whatever else was need to promote LLS and its great mission. Three years ago I took a full time position as the program manger for the S&Y program called Pennies for Patients or Pasta for Pennies. This is truly my second career. I retired from Verizon Communications Company in 2002 after a long and successful 32 years. I learned a number of skills at Verizon that I have been able to incorporate into my time with LLS.
The North Texas S&Y program is amazing and certainly my favorite. I absolutely love seeing the smiling faces of elementary students, or any student, when they get excited about helping others and have FUN doing it. Leukemia is the number one form of cancer that affects children and young adults under the age of 20. But, here is what LLS has helped to accomplish… "In 1964 a child’s chance of surviving ALL (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia), the most common form of childhood leukemia, was 3%. Today about 90% of children survive." We will continue to fight, until that number is 100%!
The Society provides all support and collateral materials free of charge for our program. This may include a school visit for an educational kick off assembly, a pasta lunch from Olive Garden, if applicable, and coin counting assistance from our Bank of America partner. I am also very proud, that our expenses for this program are relatively low and this allows approximately .78 cents of every dollar to go towards our mission: "To cure Leukemia, Lymphoma, Hodgkin ’s disease and Myeloma, and to improve the quality of life of patients and families."
When not working at LLS, you will likely find Steve on the tennis court or walking and playing with Max, the family Shiba Inu dog. However during the winter season, he exchanges his tennis racquet for a pair of skies, and swishes down the Rocky Mountains in Collateral or the Caribous in Canada. That was the site of his heli’ skiing adventure several years ago. Steve continues to enjoy spending time with his wife, Kim, his son (who is getting married, September 2013) and two wonderful step daughters.
If you are interested in joining our fight through the S&Y programs, or know of someone who would please check us out at;
www.schoolandyouth.org/ntx and register your school TODAY! We have some incentives for schools that register before the Christmas break.
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