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Light the Night supports cancer research, services
By: Loren Stanton, Staff Writer
It was during some rather dark days that Jennifer Sieben heard about the Light the Night Walk, and she has generated plenty of candle power for the event ever since.
Sieben was undergoing a bone marrow transplant for her non-Hodgkin lymphoma four years ago when she learned that some friends were participating in the annual cancer fundraiser in her honor.
That got her interested in what the national Leukemia and Lymphoma Society-sponsored event involved.
She liked what she heard, so the Overland Park resident set out to form a team of family and friends to participate the following year.
Sieben’s group adopted a rather lofty goal of raising $5,000.
“The society was a little concerned. They didn’t want us to be disappointed. They told us to not get our hopes up too much, because that was a lot of money for a family team. We raised $15,000,” Sieben said.
Increased participation of that sort helps explain why Light the Night gets bigger and brighter every year.
When the annual fundraiser in Corporate Woods Office Park in Overland Park takes place Sept. 12, an estimated 8,000 people are expected to attend.
The signature event will be a three-mile walk, with participants carrying illuminated balloons as well as a lot of hopes for cancer research.
This marks the 10th anniversary of the event, and society members say participation and collections have increased every year. If the estimate for next week is correct, the number of walkers will have grown by 1,000 over last year.
“We have really built our participation with corporate teams. They come out with some very large teams,” Jill Ring, development director for the society, said.
The growing participation also is yielding sizable increases in fundraising. The event brought in just over $600,000 last year, and Ring said about $800,000 is expected this time.
Waddell and Reed led the way last year by bringing 200 walkers and contributing $52,000, Ring said.
The walk starts at 7:45 p.m., but festivities begin at 6 p.m. outside Building 40 in the office park.
Those festivities include free food and a variety of entertainment including clowns, a gymnastics exhibition, a performance by children’s musician Jim “Mr. Stinky Feet” Cosgrove, clowns, and a disc jockey and dancing.
A popular feature new to the event last year is the Memory Garden.
Participants are invited to write notes paying tribute to victims of cancer, and to attach those notes to roses that in turn are affixed to a latticework.
“By the end of the evening there are thousands of notes and roses on display,” Ring said.
Also numbering in the thousands will be the illuminated balloons that the walkers carry.
Groups of employees at Target and Kohl’s stores spend free moments and breaks inserting into each balloon a 4-inch-long cylinder that will glow when walkers click them on with devices attached to strings tied to the balloon.
Three colors of balloons are available – red for supporters of those touched by cancer, white for cancer survivors, and gold in memory of cancer victims.
Helium lifts the balloons, and participants say the resulting view lifts spirits.
“It’s always really nice to get about a half mile into the walk and see the hundreds and hundreds of people and the mass of balloons ahead of you,” Sieben said.
“It’s always very uplifting, and I’m sure (the fundraising) has led to treatments that keep me going.”
Though Sieben is cancer-free, she has disabilities resulting from the after-effects of the bone marrow treatments.
She said she has a muscle-wasting condition called graft and host disease that causes weakness.
Light the Night raises funds both for research and patient services. The national fundraising goal this year is $40 million.
Those interested are urged to register in advance. To register, or to make a donation, call 262-1515 or visit www.LightTheNight.org/mid.
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Sieben was undergoing a bone marrow transplant for her non-Hodgkin lymphoma four years ago when she learned that some friends were participating in the annual cancer fundraiser in her honor.
That got her interested in what the national Leukemia and Lymphoma Society-sponsored event involved.
She liked what she heard, so the Overland Park resident set out to form a team of family and friends to participate the following year.
Sieben’s group adopted a rather lofty goal of raising $5,000.
“The society was a little concerned. They didn’t want us to be disappointed. They told us to not get our hopes up too much, because that was a lot of money for a family team. We raised $15,000,” Sieben said.
Increased participation of that sort helps explain why Light the Night gets bigger and brighter every year.
When the annual fundraiser in Corporate Woods Office Park in Overland Park takes place Sept. 12, an estimated 8,000 people are expected to attend.
The signature event will be a three-mile walk, with participants carrying illuminated balloons as well as a lot of hopes for cancer research.
This marks the 10th anniversary of the event, and society members say participation and collections have increased every year. If the estimate for next week is correct, the number of walkers will have grown by 1,000 over last year.
“We have really built our participation with corporate teams. They come out with some very large teams,” Jill Ring, development director for the society, said.
The growing participation also is yielding sizable increases in fundraising. The event brought in just over $600,000 last year, and Ring said about $800,000 is expected this time.
Waddell and Reed led the way last year by bringing 200 walkers and contributing $52,000, Ring said.
The walk starts at 7:45 p.m., but festivities begin at 6 p.m. outside Building 40 in the office park.
Those festivities include free food and a variety of entertainment including clowns, a gymnastics exhibition, a performance by children’s musician Jim “Mr. Stinky Feet” Cosgrove, clowns, and a disc jockey and dancing.
A popular feature new to the event last year is the Memory Garden.
Participants are invited to write notes paying tribute to victims of cancer, and to attach those notes to roses that in turn are affixed to a latticework.
“By the end of the evening there are thousands of notes and roses on display,” Ring said.
Also numbering in the thousands will be the illuminated balloons that the walkers carry.
Groups of employees at Target and Kohl’s stores spend free moments and breaks inserting into each balloon a 4-inch-long cylinder that will glow when walkers click them on with devices attached to strings tied to the balloon.
Three colors of balloons are available – red for supporters of those touched by cancer, white for cancer survivors, and gold in memory of cancer victims.
Helium lifts the balloons, and participants say the resulting view lifts spirits.
“It’s always really nice to get about a half mile into the walk and see the hundreds and hundreds of people and the mass of balloons ahead of you,” Sieben said.
“It’s always very uplifting, and I’m sure (the fundraising) has led to treatments that keep me going.”
Though Sieben is cancer-free, she has disabilities resulting from the after-effects of the bone marrow treatments.
She said she has a muscle-wasting condition called graft and host disease that causes weakness.
Light the Night raises funds both for research and patient services. The national fundraising goal this year is $40 million.
Those interested are urged to register in advance. To register, or to make a donation, call 262-1515 or visit www.LightTheNight.org/mid.