|
Executive Director's Message
This is an exciting year for the Sickle Cell Disease Association
of Illinois. It’s our 35th Anniversary, and I am happy to report that the agency
is healthier than ever and getting stronger. Our name recognition is growing
along with our reach across the state of Illinois. I’ll get into that more
later, but first let me sing the praises of our friends and loyal supporters.
On Saturday, June 10th, I stood on Chicago’s lakefront in the pouring rain at
around 5 o’clock in the morning, thinking “why?” Why does this have to happen
today, of all days? It had been beautiful weather all week long, but as I was
getting ready at approximately 1 a.m. for SCDAI’s 32nd Annual
Walk-Jog-Bike-A-Thon (hey, that’s the executive director’s life), I heard
nothing but thunderstorms rolling over the city.
Those of you who greeted me at WJBAT saw that I was decked out in
near-impenetrable rain gear—including rubber boots, trench coat and oversized
umbrella. I had hoped that this wouldn’t be like the year our trucks got stuck
in the mud, or the time that the water delivery didn’t arrive until half the
walkers were on the path. Yet, this time I did have a nail-biting wait on the
supplier who was to set-up the booths for ourvendors and sponsors that made me
wonder, what next?
Well, what was next would surprise even a wizened non-profit administrator like
me. Seven o’clock rolled around and the cars started arriving. The rain was
still heavy, but so was the steady influx of vendors, volunteers, staff and
walkers. I was moved. You all—or rather, ya’ll…because I love you—really came
through! Our booths were filled, the music was pumping as participants did their
warm-ups, food was on the grill, droves of people were on the path and we had a
simply fantastic day.
If I ever again catch myself wondering why I’m rising at some ungodly hour for a
SCDAI event, I just have to think of our many friends and think…because they’re
rooting for the program’s success, care about our cause, won’t let you down and,
yes, they are getting up too. A million thanks would never suffice, but thank
you anyhow.
Now, on to the other things we’ve accomplished. The Sickle Cell Disease
Association of Illinois is becoming a force in our State. As you will read in
the following stories, we have really reached out to our neighbors in central,
northwest, southwest, eastern and the far southern counties of Illinois. For the
first week in May, I traveled through many counties in Illinois and met with
folks in Metro East (East St. Louis and Madison counties), Peoria, and a host
of sites in the Southern Seven counties. Did you know that we have a huge State?
Everywhere I went the people were receptive to my visit and eager to partner
with SCDAI on creating programs, holding conferences and in-services,
identifying sickle cell disease populations, and generally getting the word out
about the chronic illness and treatments. Fortunately, I was able to utilize
these newfound contacts to partner on several proposals to combine our efforts
in reaching and creating a statistical database for our target population. Let’s
keep our fingers crossed that these initiatives come through.
|
>