Volunteer With Lacuna Loft

volunteer with Lacuna Loft

This week we’re talking about various ways you can get involved at Cactus Cancer Society (formerly Lacuna Loft)!  We provide all of our programs free of charge to young adult cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers.

Wanting a slightly more involved way you can help?  Volunteer with Cactus Cancer Society!  There are so many different ways you can get involved and so many different roles you can play!

We need YOU!

There are several ways to become more involved with Cactus Cancer Society and all the support and resources we provide to young adult cancer survivors and caregivers.

1. Write with the Young Adult Voices blog.
2. Create by leading one of our Creative Workshops. Share a craft or DIY activity that you enjoy, with 10-12 young adult cancer survivors.
3. Lead a book club discussion via video chat.
4. Outreach through social media on behalf of Cactus Cancer Society.
5. Fundraise! Host a game night, hold a raffle, participate in an athletic event and raise money for Lacuna Loft along the way.
6. Make your own volunteer adventure! Have a skill that you could offer Cancer Society? Let us know!

Please know that all of these options include help and guidance (if necessary) from Cactus Cancer Society. We will provide you with support, supplies, and anything else you might need. For more information on each of these options, please contact info@lacunaloft.org.

Volunteer with Lacuna Loft today!

Move And Groove To Support Lacuna Loft

raising funds for lacuna loft

This week we’re talking about various ways you can get involved at Lacuna Loft!  We provide all of our programs free of charge to young adult cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers.

One easy, simple way you can help?  Ask your own community to support Lacuna Loft directly through your own, personalized fundraising page!  You can sign up for a specific race, in honor of your birthday or another special occasion, or for any reason at all!

We’ll help set you up with a personalized fundraising page (similar to the one below), provide you with tips and tricks to raise funds, and if you raise more than $500 we’ll send you an exclusive Lacuna Loft tech-tee!

Fill out the form below to sign up!

 

Join The Flight Crew!

lacuna loft flight crew

Welcome to Pledge Drive week!  At Lacuna Loft, we provide all of our programs free of charge to young adult cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers.  This week, we’re launching a week-long, brand new initiative to provide you with tools to lend support to Lacuna Loft if you’d like!  All week long, we’ll delve into Lacuna Loft’s needs and let you know how you can help!  Last post!

Last day of the Pledge Drive!  Earlier today we talked about how else you could help support Lacuna Loft as we help support young adult cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers!  If you missed that post, you can find it here.

Now we’re talking about Lacuna Loft’s Flight Crew.  The Lacuna Loft Flight Crew is comprised of the wonderful donors who keep Lacuna Loft’s programs running strong.  Just in case becoming a member of the Flight Crew is something you’re interested in, we didn’t want to finish out our Pledge Drive week without letting you in on how to join!  By donating to Lacuna Loft, you join an exclusive group of motivated people who directly impact young adults facing cancer.  We’ll provide you with special updates from me, our founder, and keep you apprised of any important announcements.  Donate a certain amount each month, and we’ll send you exclusive, Lacuna Loft swag!  You can learn more about all of this and donate here.

We know that donating isn’t always an option for young adults facing cancer and that’s why this Pledge Drive was so important.  There are other ways to become supportive of Lacuna Loft’s programs, joining our team so we can continue offering programs free of charge.  No matter how you join in, every member of the Lacuna Loft family is vitally important to our mission and we are very grateful that you’re here.

A lot has happened this first, Pledge Drive week.  Thank you for coming along for the ride with us.

With you on our team, we can continue offering programs free of charge to young adult cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers!  Thank you!

Sara’s Story

sara's story lacuna loft

The stories behind Lacuna Loft are the most important part of the organization.  These stories are courageous and powerful beyond measure.  This is a piece of Sara’s Story…

When I was first diagnosed with cancer at the age of 24, I felt alone, lost and suddenly disconnected from others in my age group. Going through a health crisis of this nature at such a young age was not something people my age could relate to, and I felt isolated. When I started writing with the group of young survivors, I immediately found solace in the family of young adults who knew exactly what it felt like to walk this path of sickness and healing. Writing with this group not only helped me to no longer feel isolated, it provided me the therapy to process my situation in a healthy way. It offered me a tool to cope and feel grounded in myself. It helped me see my gifts and my purpose in the world. It empowered me to share my voice with others because I felt safe to do so. It helped me to feel connected to myself, my creativity and other people in a way that no other therapy or program has ever been able to offer.

I am deeply grateful to Lacuna Loft and the wonderful group of people that make up this organization. This group of powerful young writer warriors has brought so much healing to my life. I believe I would not be as well off in my health and confidence if I didn’t have the support of such a beautiful group.

What to do next?  Stay tuned for more happening this week.  You’ll hear some powerful stories from our community as well as some exciting announcements!  Pledge Drive week has a lot left in store for you!

Walk, Run, Swim, Be Awesome While Supporting Lacuna Loft!

fundraise for Lacuna Loft

Welcome to Pledge Drive week!  At Lacuna Loft, we provide all of our programs free of charge to young adult cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers.  This week, we’re launching a week-long, brand new initiative to provide you with tools to lend support to Lacuna Loft if you’d like!  All week long, we’ll delve into Lacuna Loft’s needs and let you know how you can help!  Day Three!

Want to make a difference in the young adult cancer community and get busy moving at the same time?  Now you can easily fundraise for Lacuna Loft using a customized page!  Sign up for a race or keep busy moving and grooving while raising money for young adult cancer survivors at the same time!  We’ll help set you up with a personalized fundraising page (similar to the one below), provide you with tips and tricks to raise funds, and if you raise more than $500 we’ll send you an exclusive Lacuna Loft tech-tee!

Fill out the form below to sign up!

How can you help?

Get busy moving and grooving and fundraise for Lacuna Loft at the same time!

With you on our team, we can continue offering programs free of charge to young adult cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers!

What to do next?  Stay tuned for more happening this week.  You’ll hear some powerful stories from our community as well as some exciting announcements!  Pledge Drive week has a lot left in store for you!

Katie’s Story

katie's story lacuna loft

The stories behind Lacuna Loft are the most important part of the organization.  These stories are courageous and powerful beyond measure.  This is a piece of Katie’s Story…

On December 2, 2015, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I had just turned 34 years old at the time, and my son, Wes, was just 3 months old. The best time in my life quickly turned into the worst. I completed 5 long months of chemotherapy followed by surgery and then 5 weeks of radiation. I had the best possible response to my treatment—and I was so incredibly grateful for that—but I was searching for a sense of relief after finishing treatment and really struggled to find it. No one tells you that the fear that consumes you after treatment is over can be worse than actually going through the treatment. A fellow survivor recommended Lacuna Loft to me. Writing has always been an important part of my life so I thought maybe it could help me deal with all of the thoughts and fears that came after my cancer diagnosis. And it certainly did. I shared so much with strangers because they too knew what I was going through, they too felt the fear that I felt. And while it didn’t bring me the sense of relief I was looking for, it brought a different kind of relief that I didn’t know I needed to start to heal from all of this.

What to do next?  Stay tuned for more happening this week.  You’ll hear some powerful stories from our community as well as some exciting announcements!  Pledge Drive week has a lot left in store for you!

Gear Up!

lacuna loft shop

Welcome to Pledge Drive week!  At Lacuna Loft, we provide all of our programs free of charge to young adult cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers.  This week, we’re launching a week-long, brand new initiative to provide you with tools to lend support to Lacuna Loft if you’d like!  All week long, we’ll delve into Lacuna Loft’s needs and let you know how you can help! Day Two!

Be loud and proud about Lacuna Loft!  Our online shop has just opened for business and all proceeds go straight to helping run our programs at Lacuna Loft!  You can look great and help another young adult cancer survivor at the same time, with every purchase.  Shop ’til you drop!!!

How can you help?

Grab your favorite Lacuna Loft gear and tell your community how they can look cool and support a great org at the same time.

With you on our team, we can continue offering programs free of charge to young adult cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers!

What to do next?  Stay tuned for more happening this week.  You’ll hear some powerful stories from our community as well as some exciting announcements!  Pledge Drive week has a lot left in store for you!

Amy’s Story

amy's story lacuna loft

The stories behind Lacuna Loft are the most important part of the organization.  These stories are courageous and powerful beyond measure.  This is a piece of Amy’s Story…

When I was diagnosed with breast cancer on February 4, 2013, I was six months into a new job and in the middle of an antagonistic divorce from my now ex-wife. I had my daughter with me six nights a week and was trying to find my “new normal.” My grandmother, who had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer more than thirty years earlier, died the day I heard the words, “You have cancer.”

The next two years were a blur: surgery after surgery, chemo, radiation, herceptin, tamoxifen, lupron, exemestane. Somewhere in there, I got divorced and changed jobs again. One day I looked around and realized I couldn’t recognize my life anymore. I had also lost myself, and I didn’t know how to find other young people like me who had had the rug pulled out from under them with so much more living to do.

Then I found Unspoken Ink. The first time I saw Mallory and Jen in small boxes on my computer (we were using google hangout), in the spring of 2016, I wasn’t quite sure how an online real-time writing group would work for me; I was someone who liked to curl up with an unlined journal to write, and I rarely shared my work without revising it multiple times. Yet every Wednesday night I looked forward to sitting down in front of my computer with a journal, a pen, and a cup of tea (or sometimes a glass of wine, if I’d had that kind of day).

Through Unspoken Ink, Lacuna Loft helped me find quiet spaces in which to make sense of my experiences, and community in which to share them. I loved hearing other peoples’ stories, too, whether through poetry or haiku or song. I became a writer again, and a listener and a friend.

I have participated in two sessions of Unspoken Ink, and I was lucky enough to meet Mallory in person at the Young Survival Coalition Conference in Oakland last year. She is an amazing resource, and the fact that she works so hard to make it possible for people like me to participate in programs that help us to reclaim our lives, blows me away. I am grateful to Lacuna Loft, and I can’t wait to apply for the next session of Unspoken Ink!

What to do next?  Stay tuned for more happening this week.  You’ll hear some powerful stories from our community as well as some exciting announcements!  Pledge Drive week has a lot left in store for you!