American Cancer Society’s National Volunteer Week

In celebration of the 37th annual National Volunteer Week (April 18 to April 24), the American Cancer Society, the Official Sponsor of Birthdays, recognizes the efforts of its more than three million volunteers nationwide by kicking-off a national pledge to volunteer in 2010. Volunteers are crucial to the American Cancer Society’s mission to save lives and create a world with less cancer and more birthdays, and with the help of its volunteers, the Society is successfully helping people stay well and get well by finding cures and fighting back against cancer.

As National Volunteer Week approaches, American Cancer Society is encouraging the rest of the country to join its volunteers in making a big impact in 2010 by pledging to volunteer by year’s end. The Society today kicked off a national pledge to volunteer with a new tool that allows consumers to pledge hours and find rewarding volunteer opportunities in their own community.

The American Cancer Society listens, shares, heals, and nurtures a spirit of hope and a culture of caring through volunteerism. For those looking to get involved in their own community this Spring, the Society offers many opportunities to get outside, get moving and get healthy all while making a difference:

• The Society’s DetermiNation™ program offers athletes of all abilities the opportunity to save lives with every mile they conquer in endurance events across the country, all while maintaining their own health and fitness goals.

• Relay For Life®, the world’s largest movement to end cancer, is celebrating it’s 26th year and with more than 5,000 events in 20 countries, this overnight community event engages volunteers in organizing teams that celebrate the lives of people who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost and fight back against the disease.

• Making Strides Against Breast Cancer®, the organization’s premier event to raise funds and awareness to fight breast cancer, involves nearly 500,000 people across the country in an inspiring, non-competitive walk.

Additional opportunities to volunteer throughout the year include:

• Road to Recovery, where volunteers drive patients to and from treatment

• Look Good…Feel Better®, where volunteers help women overcome treatment related-side effects by teaching them skills to help their appearance

• Reach to Recovery where breast cancer survivors volunteer to provide one-on-one support to newly diagnosed breast cancer patients

• Hope Lodge®, where volunteers can cook a meal for guests staying at a local Lodge, which offers cancer patients and their families a free, temporary place to stay when their best hope for effective treatment may be in another city.

Besides volunteering, help communicate the importance of celebrating more birthdays by visiting the American Cancer Society’s website to:

• Download their Birthday Kit to ensure that your birthday is even more meaningful.

• Visit the Cool Stuff section where you can show your support for More Birthdays by adding any one of 6 images to your desktop, print and display the More Birthdays poster, send your birthday invitation to guests using the ACS’ Evite, and bloggers can obtain HTML to add the badge to their blogs.

• Make a donation to help save lives to help people stay well and get well. Your donation will aid in finding cures and fighting back against cancer.

Learn more about the American Cancer Society volunteer pledge and how you can saves lives while fulfilling your own then join the American Cancer Society’s movement to create a world with less cancer and more birthdays, visit morebirthdays.com.

How will you spend your time fighting for a cure and against cancer to ensure that everyone has more birthdays?

This post is dedicated to Susan and the women in my life who are able to celebrate more birthdays.

This information was provided by the American Cancer Society and shared as a public service through my involvement with ACS’ Bloggers for More Birthdays. All images are courtesy of ACS. No compensation was received for this post.