Ice Cream/Lemonade/Anything for Cancer Research!

Everyone's a winner when they join the fight against childhood cancer throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Washington DC, Maine, Maryland and Virginia. On Saturday, May 1, the EDY'S brand and Stop & Shop/Giant Food stores are partnering on a special Triple Winner fundraising day that will benefit local cancer research centers.

Ice cream cups are a great snack anytime, but on May 1 you can enjoy them free while donating to Triple Winner charities. Donate $1 and receive a free EDY'S, HAAGEN-DAZS or THE SKINNY COW ice cream cup. Donate $3 and you'll receive the free cup and a limited edition Triple Winner keepsake.

My mom and my brothers, plus their church youth group, all happened upon this today my mom and I each took a carload of some of the kids from the youth group to Stop & Shop. The youth group had been participating in something called, "The 30 Hour Famine", which is a great movement to fight hunger. More can be read about it here. In any case, it surprised me to see a promotion giving away free single-servings of Haagen-Dazs ice cream for every $1 donation made to childhood cancer research! I'm always surprised to see organizations raising money for childhood cancer research, because it's often overshadowed by other diseases and cancers in general, and especially breast cancer. Those are great causes too, for sure, and I'll try to help out whenever I can. But when I see people trying to help in the fight for childhood cancer specifically, you know I will be there doing what I can. So what to do except give the guy working the table $10 and then get 10 little ice cream in return? ;) That was certainly a bonus, and my mom and I both kept an ice cream, but we gave the others to the youth group to have later. When I see these kinds of booths, I am definitely going to go over there and donate or help out, but for some reason I'm never sure if I should go up there and be like, "Hey, you're raising money for childhood cancer - what a coincidence, I HAVE childhood cancer!" Of course, I wouldn't say it like that, but that's what it comes down to. And then I think, "What good is that going to do for them? They don't know me." It can be uncomfortable to just walk right up to someone and announce, "I have cancer." I'm okay with the fact, but it will always make the other person uncomfortable - how are you supposed to respond to someone who announces suddenly, out of the blue, that they have cancer? That makes it hard to meet new people sometimes. I'm always wondering, "When do I tell them? DO I need to tell them? I don't mind telling them. I don't mind saying anything about it or answering any questions. But I don't want them to feel like they can't be themselves around me anymore. Maybe I shouldn't tell them. Or maybe I should tell them first thing. No, I'll just tell them later. We'll see if it comes up." Right. It's going to just magically "come up". It sounds crazy, but this is a dilemma to me! There's always going to be an awkward hesitation when I tell people I have cancer. There are always going to be people who treat me differently - more fragilely - after I tell them.

But for some reason, today I just went right up to the booth and told the boy working there, "Hey, I'd like to donate this money. Thanks for doing this, I have cancer myself so it means something to me."

And wouldn't you know it? He hesitated a slight bit, as always, but then continued chatting with me. And he was nice and treated me normally! He asked a few questions, then apologized if he was being insensitive; I answered the questions, no problem, and told him he wasn't. And just like that, things were normal.

Before I left to bring my car full of kids back to the church, he told me I was brave and wished me luck. And that was that.

It's helped me realize that, while it may not make a difference to the people working the booths and activities for cancer research, it makes a difference to me. And maybe I might just end up making a difference in their lives after all.