During the slow months of the summer tradeshow season, some industry professionals take overseas vacations, go camping with their kids or just spend some well-deserved time relaxing around the house. Not Jose Lopez, founder and CEO of Agile Tradeshow Furnishings.
Lopez has been training to run his first-ever marathon to support the patients of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. On October 9, Lopez and many other runners will come together at the 2011 Bank of America Chicago Marathon in hopes to raise $300,000 for St. Jude.
“We have all either seen or felt the affects that cancer can have on its victims, but when the victims are children, it brings the devastation to a completely different level,” said Lopez. “As a St. Jude Hero, I have committed to crossing the finish line of my race while raising funds to support the work of St. Jude doctors and researchers working to find cures and save the lives of children fighting cancer and other deadly diseases.”
As a member of the St. Jude Heroes program, Lopez has committed to raise a minimum of $1,500 for the mission: Finding Cures. Saving Children. Currently, Lopez has raised more than $1,100 in pledges from friends and co-workers. His goal is to reach the $5,000 mark before the marathon.
“My fundraising efforts will directly support the work of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and I am asking for (everyone’s) help,” said Lopez. “St. Jude is unlike any other pediatric cancer treatment and research facility. Discoveries made by St. Jude have completely changed how the world treats children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases. With research and patient care under one roof, St. Jude is where some of today’s most gifted researchers are able to do science more quickly.”
Founded by the late entertainer Danny Thomas, St. Jude is one of the world’s premier centers for the research and treatment of pediatric cancer and other catastrophic childhood diseases.
St. Jude is the first and only pediatric cancer center to be designated as a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute. St. Jude is also the only pediatric cancer research center where families never pay for treatments that are not covered by insurance. No child is denied treatment because of a family’s inability to pay.
Fundraising efforts from runners like Lopez will benefit children from all 50 states and around the world who have come through the doors of St. Jude for treatment. Thousands more around the world have benefited from the research conducted at St. Jude, which is shared freely with the global medical community.
“Danny Thomas believed that ‘no child should die in the dawn of life,’” said Lopez. “I urge you all to donate what you can to this more than worthy cause.”
To help Lopez reach his fundraising goal of $5,000 or for more information about St. Jude’s Heroes, visit www.stjudeheroes.org.
