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For National Volunteer Week, we’re shining a light on the many volunteers who make our programs and events possible. From Breathe Deep TOGETHER to Team LUNGevity, the LUNGevity Action Network, and beyond, thank you to everyone who volunteers their time to help others.
Below are a few ways people have been involved in helping others and helping LUNGevity. If you want to start volunteering, let us know here.
Dave Rivera
Volunteer: Photographer/videographer in NYC for Breathe Deep TOGETHER and Team LUNGevity
I’ve worked with many non-profit groups as a photographer, the people from LUNGevity really do care about what they’re doing. This makes it both a pleasure and honor to help them look their best!
Rob & Juliet Chernesky
Volunteer: Team LUNGevity
I love listening to runners’ stories and cheering them on their run to support Team LUNGevity. As a bonus it’s an excuse to wear a blue tutu and wig to make the runners smile.
-Rob Chernesky
I love being able to volunteer with Team LUNGevity because it is so fun to not only cheer everyone on at the races but inspiring to hear everyone's stories of why they chose to run for LUNGevity.
-Juliet Chernesky
Lisa Hutter
Volunteer: Breathe Deep TOGETHER
Having been a person who had never smoked and diagnosed with lung cancer at the age of 44, I felt compelled to help do my part to enlighten and educate others by sharing my story, as well as to help raise desperately needed funding for lung cancer. However, what I find most rewarding, is being able to reach out to other lung cancer survivors and help them in finding resources and to help give them hope.
After receiving such a devastating diagnosis, hope is the priceless gift that everyone whose life has been touched by lung cancer desperately needs and deserves. HOPE is what LUNGevity offers to countless lung cancer patients and their families, and it is an organization which I am honored and proud to be part of.
Karen Portner
Volunteer: Breathe Deep TOGETHER
My husband, Phil, was diagnosed with lung cancer on his 52nd birthday in December 2012. Phil and I learned about LUNGevity and Breathe Deep DC through Jerry Sorkin, a friend of our doctor. Jerry and LUNGevity gave Phil hope and led him to excellent doctors and treatments.
A part of Phil's treatment was participation in the clinical trials for the drug now known as Opdivo. He was happy knowing that he was helping others diagnosed with lung cancer through the clinical trial and forming 'Team Portner" at Breathe Deep DC. I continue to walk at Breathe Deep DC with Team Portner in Phil's, Phil's mother's, and my mother's memories, each of whom passed from lung cancer, so that others will be diagnosed at earlier lung cancer stages, will have more treatment options once diagnosed, and will have greater quality of life throughout their journeys.
Kimberly Goodloe
Volunteer: Awareness, Advocacy, & Support Services
I volunteer with LUNGevity to:
- Raise lung cancer awareness.
- Advocate for underserved communities and increase mental health support for patients and their caregivers.
- Support medical research.
- Educate the community by providing healthy resources.
- In loving memory of my beautiful sister, Dr. Karen Leigh Bryant.
- Encourage lung cancer patients and their families to stay positive, focused, and find one reason to smile every day.
Shirley Muñoz
Volunteer: LUNGevity Action Network
As an advocate for my fellow lung cancer patients, I am committed to amplifying their voices and advocating for their needs, especially for the younger lung cancer patients and the Spanish-speaking lung cancer patients who are often underrepresented in the lung cancer community.
By advocating for inclusive research practices, equitable access to clinical trials, and increased funding for innovative treatments, I hope I can help prioritize patient-centered approaches that will ultimately lead to better prevention, detection, and treatment strategies for this disease.
Here's how YOU can volunteer: