Mayor Sexton, Wife Honorary Chairs for Unique CWC 5K

Evergreen Park Mayor Jim Sexton and his wife Karen will serve as honorary chairs for the 6th Annual Christmas Without Cancer 5K Walk/Run scheduled for the week of September 19th through Saturday, September 26, 2020 in which participants will run “on their honor” instead of the traditional group event at Klein Park.

“Karen and I are honored to help during these extraordinary times,” said Sexton. “By running or walking, each person has the chance to help Christmas Without Cancer help those battling cancer right here in our community.

“We believe Christmas Without Cancer can be just as successful with a virtual event as they have been these recent years at Circle Park, where we all hope to be next year when we’ve beaten this pandemic down.”

Individuals, teams and sponsors are being asked to “take a leap of faith” and participate in ways that are creative, fun and heartfelt – anytime over a one-week period. Common sense and the need to keep large groups from gathering motivated the race coordinators to find solutions. Small group efforts are expected to take place in all the communities in which Christmas Without Cancer’s impact has been felt, from Evergreen Park to Mount Greenwood, Beverly/Morgan Park to Oak Lawn.

“People are hurting because of this vicious monster cancer,” said Sexton. “Christmas Without Cancer raises money locally to help families locally and anything we can do to facilitate and support that effort, we will do. People feel good knowing donations are helping right here at home.”

Christmas Without Cancer founder and Evergreen Park resident Gerri Neylon, a retired oncology department at Advocate Christ Medical Center, has called Sexton and his wife the organization’s “Guardian Angels” because of their help building awareness and creating sponsorship opportunities with groups such as Binny’s Beverages in Evergreen Park.

“When leaders like the Sextons shine a spotlight on your efforts, it can propel a small grassroots, all-volunteer organization like ours to new heights,” said Neylon. “Every year of growth has meant we help more families with more resources.”

September 19, 2020 will mark the week of the 6th Annual Christmas Without Cancer 5K Run/Walk to raise funds and begin the season of giving period. Registration at: https://runsignup.com/Race/IL/AnyCityAnyState/ChristmasWithoutCancer5kRunWalk

Interested in sponsoring? Email christmaswithoutcancer@gmail.com

Christmas Without Cancer identifies need and then provides gifts and basic necessities to Chicagoland families with members stricken with cancer so to allow the beauty of Christmas to shine through while family members find comfort in their devotion to one another.