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| Me with my Grandfather Jess Belza |
While a student at the University of Virginia, I co-led our university's
Relay For Life, a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. I co-led UVA's 11th annual event where more than 1,000 students and community members gathered for the year-long campaign's culminating 12-hour, non-stop walk-a-thon designed to raise funds and awareness for cancer and cancer research to show that cancer never sleeps. I was so proud of what we accomplished, raising over $140,000 for the ACS. The fight against cancer is a cause that is dear to my heart. I relay in memory of my grandfather Jess Belza, family friend Janet Goldberg, cousin Mike Nozik, and in honor of all my family and friends still fighting. I relay to find a cure in my lifetime and to live in a world with no cancer.
At the end of my time leading Relay at UVa with my friend Zoe, we passed on the baton to two amazing individuals, Kelly and Katie. Katie went on to lead
Relay for Life at UVa for two years and this summer, while in the real world, decided to continue fundraising for the American Cancer Society through a campaign called "Miles for Trials". Katie is taking a cross country road trip with her grandmother (a breast cancer survivor) to raise awareness about the importance of cancer clinical trials as well as share the personal trials of cancer patients and their families whom they meet along the way. They are seeking donations to "sponsor" each mile as they travel from coast to coast. All donations go directly to the ACS who provides research funding that may lead to the next clinical trial or breakthrough to save a loved one. I donated to Katie's
@milesfortrials campaign to support her on her cross country trip and to help in the fight against cancer. If you would like to donate to Katie's campaign as well,
click here.
I am proud to support my friends, family and fellow Wahoos in fighting cancer to that we can live in a world where we celebrate more birthdays!
For my 25th birthday, my boyfriend surprised me and booked a skydiving trip - so cool! Skydiving has always been an item on my bucket list so what better way to celebrate living a quarter of century than jumping out of an airplane? We drove to West Point, Virginia and met the folks from No Limits Skydiving at their office to sign paperwork, throw on jumpsuits and got prepped to jump. I was excited to learn that the guy I was jumping with had jumped over 16,000 times; I was in good hands. We drove across the road to Middle Peninsula Regional Airport, got in the small plane and took off. After about a fifteen minute climb, we jumped out of the plane at around 15,000 feet, while the plane was going around 100mph - ah! I, of course, asked Clark to jump first so I watched him jump and followed right behind him, free-falling tandem for 30-45 seconds. At around 5,000 feet, our parachutes opened and we glided the rest of the way down to the ground. Jumping was an incredible experience - there was so much adrenaline running through my body and since we jumped over the York River there were spectacular views of the rivers and bay below! We landed safely right next to where we parked our cars and quickly exchanged what the experience was like for each of us. I had such a good time skydiving. Although I am not dying to go again tomorrow, I would definitely go again. Thanks Clark for ringing in 25 with me in the air!
