"Un-Leash the Creativity"

February, already?!?! It always amazes me how time speeds past us. Which I guess is always a good sign that we are enjoying what we are doing. This blog has turned out to be a fun hobby of mine, but I did not know where I was going with it. People suggested that I try to write reviews for products, but that is easier said than done. Quite honestly I like writing about my thoughts on faith and fitness. When this blog started my encouraging husband introduced my blog to his high school students. They have become such avid readers of my blog and always leave me feeling inspired to write more. I am honored to write this blog entry about some students at Proviso Math and Science Academy.

Back in December I got put in such the holiday spirit when I received an email from Karthika about the Destination Imagination Team. They asked if I would like to be the recipient of a generous donation to the Avon Breast Cancer Walk. I was so thrilled to get this email, because I had just attended a bowling event to raise funds for a friend who is a Breast Cancer Survivor. She is an amazing woman, high school counselor, and a mother of two little children who my children have been growing up with. The Destination Imagination Team has offered their donation to the “Pointer Sisters,” for this year’s Avon Breast Cancer Walk. The event consists of a walk in Chicago on June 2 and 3rd. Day one is 26.2 miles. Day 2 is 13 miles for total of 39 miles. Walking 39 miles and surviving breast cancer makes one filled with hope. The sign of the pink ribbon is one that I hold near to my heart as do many others in our world today.

Here is their story as told by Karthika Nair:

I am a student at the Proviso Mathematics and Science Academy and captain of their Destination Imagination Team. In this program we complete challenges as a team that promote teamwork, thinking out of the box and being creative. Last year, we won the community project challenge. We placed first in the state for our project. The challenge was to bring the community together for a common goal or cause. Our team consists of 5 members: Karthika Nair (me), Gaby Berndt, Saul Alarcon, Lissette Moreno, and Jorge Lopez. The team manager is Lauren O'Connor, a teacher at our school.

Destination Imagination Team has been around as long as we have. It has been four years and was started by Mr.Thomas Dix, a physics teacher at our school. Destination Imagination is a team-based, problem solving program that encourages creativity. The project that we chose last year was the community project that focused on using effective communication to bring the community together for a common goal.

Our goal was raising awareness and an affordable means to support breast cancer. Two years ago our found mentor, Mr. Thomas Dix, passed away due to lung cancer. We wanted to stick with the concept of fighting cancer, and thought that breast cancer was a more imminent topic to make into a community project. We selected breast cancer because we wanted a project that we knew has affected a lot of people but none of us have had the opportunity to make an impact upon. When realizing that the AVON breast cancer walk costs $1300 to participate in, we wanted to find a way for people in our community to have their own impact even if they don’t have that kind of financial support.

Destination Imagination ordered pink bracelets, made a lot of handmade bracelets and pink ribbons that we wore and sold around our school. Then, on April 1st of last year we held a Walkathon, without much success considering that the weather that day was terribly cold, windy and gloomy. That's where the amazing part unfolds. After the walkathon, between all the effort we put into bringing so much food, we had heaps of leftovers that we didn't know what to do with. We couldn't afford to just take them home, we had to at least make up the sum that was spent from parents on supplies. In my lobby that day, there were a flurry of phone calls about public places that we could sell food without a permit and about our cause. That's when a neighbor of mine walks by and we all spark a lightbulb. "We're giving out free hotdogs and asking for donations for breast cancer". Apparently one person was having a party and another was facing cancer herself. Before we knew it, my lobby became like a little bakery shop. That day we made $375 solely off of going around my condominium talking about our cause.

My final thought is if this blog does nothing else I am happy for what it brought to the “Pointer Sisters,” and to the Destination Imagination Team. It brought two “tribes” together via the internet and allowed a good story to be re-told. Both of them teach us that over coming challenges, working together, and being creative can result in positive outcomes.

For more information about the Avon Breast Cancer Walk please visit the side link for "Pointer Sisters" on my blog. If you are interested in donating to the “Pointer Sisters,” you can visit the same website and 1st: click on donate at the top, 2nd: donate to a walker, 3rd: type in Wendy Biggs, Pamela Gonzalez, or Julie Kearney.