Faces of ACS: Julie Glover

Periodically, the ACS Nebraska blog will highlight American Cancer Society staff and volunteers from around Nebraska so that you can get to know the faces behind the our ourganization.  Today, we highlight Julie Glover, Regional Director of Health Initiatives out of the Omaha office.  Julie joined the American Cancer Society on July 26, 2004.

Briefly describe your role with the American Cancer Society.

I am the Regional Director of Health Initiatives for the Nebraska Region. I support the Health Initiatives staff and volunteers across the State by providing training and coaching to help them reach their goal of providing American Cancer Society programs and services to cancer patients and caregivers that need us most.

What do you love most about your job?

“To love what you do and feel that it matters. How could anything be more fun?” – Katherine Graham  
This is how I feel about my job with the American Cancer Society. The thing I love the most about my job is that I truly believe that the work I am doing actually matters and is making the world a little less difficult for someone else…and what makes it even better is that I have so much fun doing it!

What is your most memorable ACS moment?

In 2006, I had the privilege of traveling to Washington, D.C. to attend Celebration on the Hill with my sister and a team of volunteers from Nebraska. We joined more than 3,500 volunteers from across the country to celebrate survivorship and send a message to congress that cancer should be a national priority. While there, I participated in a rally on the National Mall and attended a luminaria ceremony outside our Nation’s capital. By far, my most memorable ACS moment was walking around the capital’s reflecting pool alongside my sister and thousands of others, honoring and remembering our loved ones as we read the names on the luminaria bags we passed. It’s difficult to put into words how emotional and powerful this experience was for me…it was spectacular!

What is one thing that you want people to know about you?

A lot of people don’t know that I started out as an intern for the American Cancer Society. It was the last practicum I had to do before graduating. I chose the Society for no other reason than it was at the top of an alphabetized list of non-profit organizations. I had no intention of staying with the organization; not because I hadn’t been touched by cancer but because I thought my purpose was to work in child welfare. BUT, boy was I wrong! Now, looking back it reminds me of the saying “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans”! Within the first 2 weeks of my internship, I became so inspired by the staff, volunteers, and survivors that I met along my journey…and I knew I wanted to make this my career. This July will mark my 8 year anniversary as a staff member of the Society. And to this day, I continue to be inspired and moved by the staff, volunteers, and survivors I have met along the way!

Which Relay will you participate in this year?

I will be participating in the Relay For Life of Sarpy County. This will be my 9^th year as a team captain for our friends and family team named Viva La Relay. One of my proudest moments as a team captain was when our team raised over $15,000 and became the very first team to reach the Sapphire fundraising club level at the Sarpy Relay!

When you’re not working, what are your favorite things to do?

I am extremely close to my family and enjoy spending my free time with them. I have 2 nieces and a nephew that I am obsessed with and am currently working on earning the title of “Best Aunt Ever”! I also enjoy spending time with my child (puppy) Oliver Joseph! Oliver and I have recently taken on the challenge of running 5ks together…and he is definitely showing me up!

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

I want to share my appreciation for our amazing volunteers. Thank you, you are truly helping to save lives. Happy Birthday!!

 

Your Chance to Win a Kindle Fire!

The Nebraska Region of the American Cancer Society is announcing an online fundraising challenge for Relay For Life!  The winner of this two-week challenge will win a brand new Kindle Fire.  It only takes three easy steps for fundraise for Relay For Life:

1) Register for your local event on www.RelayForLife.org and update your personal page with your reason to Relay.

2) Ask your friends, families, coworkers, and social network to donate to the American Cancer Society on your behalf by sending an email from your participant center.

3) When you receive a donation, follow-up with a thank you note to the donor!

To be eligible for the Kindle Fire contest:

- Register on your local Relay For Life online site (if you haven’t done so already).

- Raise the most money online between May 14 and May 28.  Even if your event has already happened, you can still fundraise and participate.

- The prize will be given to the top online fundraising individual during the contest timeframe.  (Offline donations are not eligible).

Employees of the American Cancer Society are not eligible to participate.  Maximum value is $200.  Only one prize will be given.  In the event of a tie, the tiebreaker will be the individual with the highest number of donations during the contest timeframe.  Only eligible for events in the Nebraska Region.

“We Can Do This Together” by Michelle Shkolnick

JoAnn

March was colorectal cancer awareness month.  For me, it meant that I thought almost daily about my friend, JoAnn, who waged a valiant battle against colon cancer for all of 2001.  She lost that battle in early 2002.

JoAnn was my “work mom” at my first adult job.  She took me under her wing and showed me the ropes from my very first day.  Everyone LOVED to be around JoAnn because she had FUN no matter what! Everything about her was magnetic…she would draw people in because of her kindness, genuine love of her family and friends, sense of humor and “take no crap” attitude.

When I first learned of JoAnn’s diagnosis, I knew nothing about colon cancer.  And really, she did not share many “clinical” details about it with me.  I went to visit her in the hospital prior to her surgery and remember walking out of that room on the 5th floor of Bergan Mercy thinking she was in trouble…not because she alluded to this, but because before I was diagnosed (just three short months later) no one I had ever known had survived cancer.  Despite my worries, JoAnn made it through surgery and started chemo.  Everything was clicking along just fine.

JoAnn sent me a beautiful card when I was first diagnosed.  It said, “We can do this together.”  And we started out MY cancer journey doing just that.  I remember very vividly one of JoAnn’s visits that took place a couple of weeks after  my mastectomy and a week or so before the start of my chemo.  JoAnn stopped by to teach me the “chemo ropes,” which consisted of the following lecture:  “You are no more important than anyone else in that office.  Your time is not more valuable.  This is G-d’s way of teaching you PATIENCE because there is a whole lot of waiting when you are getting chemo and you, missy, are going to be in line behind the guy in front of you.  Get used it!” 

We spent a lot of time together that summer.  After her health began to decline, JoAnn spent most of her time in a hospital bed in the first floor den of the home in which she and her husband had raised their wonderful family.  I would visit her every Saturday, and she would show me all the cards she had received that week from all of her friends from her hometown of Greeley, Nebraska.  JoAnn was pretty sick by this point, and I think we both knew this was not going to end well.  But we never talked about that.  True to JoAnn’s grace and determination, she managed to make it back to Greeley for her annual high school reunion that autumn.  Things pretty much went downhill from there over the next three months.  Two days before Christmas, she returned to the hospital and never left.   JoAnn passed away in January of 2002.

JoAnn did not have to die.  If she had followed the American Cancer Society’s guidelines for colorectal cancer screening, she would have had a colonoscopy five years prior to her diagnosis and would probably be around today to enjoy the wives her sons took as brides…and to enjoy the grandchildren she used to dream about.  

I still have the card that JoAnn sent me.  “We can do this together” is what she wrote.  The print on the inside of the card read, “Laugh out loud.  Sing a song.  Be assertive.  Be silly.  Be happy.  Be strong.”  I pull out that card from time to time.  I miss my friend, but she is still teaching me the ropes…

by Michelle Shkolnick – 2012 Hero of Hope

Michelle Shkolnick

This is the first post of Michelle Shkolnick’s  series as a contributor for the ACSNebraska.org site.  Shkolnick, who is an American Cancer Society Relay For Life Hero of Hope in 2012 will share her captivating writing ability with ACSNebraska readers every other week in May and June.  She will talk about her cancer journey, the American Cancer Society, Relay For Life, survivorship and the people she’s met along the way.  Michelle was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001 and began Relaying in Omaha that summer.  This year, she travels across Nebraska talking to fellow Relayers and inspiring people to help the American Cancer Society make a difference by saving lives.  Please check back with ACSNebraska.org or subscribe to the site because you won’t want to miss a word of Michelle’s stories.  Her next story is scheduled to be posted on Tuesday, May 22.