12 Ways of Giving, Day 3 — Relay an Important Message

Justine’s Relay for Life team 2011

Cancer: a maddening, infuriating disease that just won’t quit. And for that reason, never will I.

So many people are affected (directly and indirectly) by this disease, and in increasing numbers. This is why for several years now, I have been volunteering by way of fund-raising for and participation in American Cancer Society events. Among them, the annual Relay for Life. My Relay teammates (made up of family members and friends) and I spend the months and weeks leading up to the overnight event shamelessly fundraising to assist in meeting not only our team’s goal but to simply continue supporting the ACS and its tireless efforts. And we have fun doing it, too—we laugh, play the event’s games, talk with fellow Relay-ers, and just enjoy quality time together.

Similarly, another organization has also benefitted from my help… earlier this year, I chopped 10 inches of hair from my head to donate to Locks of Love. This is such a simple act that carries with it an enormous impact. All I needed to do was nothing (aside from my daily wash/condition/blow-dry routine), and continue to let it grow. I mean, I’m able to grow (and grow, and grow, and grow) my hair. So instead of watching the hair dresser sweep inches and inches of my fallen locks off the floor and into the trash, I knew it would be much nicer to know that a little girl somewhere, battling cancer, is happily sitting in front of her vanity mirror brushing her new hair.


Since my areas of expertise do not lie in medical research, but in writing, editing, communications, public relations, etc., this is my way of “fighting the fight” on behalf of so many who cannot. Participating in these, and so many other ACS-associated events, are some of the most rewarding, and so incredibly simple, ways one can spend time. So what are you waiting for?

– Justine Murphy, Communications Specialist