IU club to raise funds for cancer survivors

IU has become the home of a new campus club, Circle of Life, which was organized to raise funds for charities. The fund-raising group is working on its first program, a mini-marathon scheduled to be held in Bloomington during the spring of 2006. \nSophomore Kevin MacCauley, Circle of Life president, formed the idea for the club last fall and carried it out this January with a call-out meeting. So far the club has already seen success by recruiting 54 members after that initial meeting.\n"(MacCauley) wanted to find a club to be involved in fund raising for many causes. It would be our hope to be able to touch the lives of other people in different ways," said sophomore and Circle of Life Treasurer Samantha Roper.\nThe mini-marathon will raise money for a full-ride scholarship that will be given to a cancer survivor to attend IU. "The ultimate goal of the program is to give someone that had cancer the ability to go to school," MacCauley said.\nDuring the mini-marathon, participants will be wearing the names of cancer patients as a source of motivation. \n"Our goal is to have (Circle of Life) members running (the mini-marathon) or working the event itself," junior and Director of Operations Steve Theising said.\nBecause of the cost of medical treatment for cancer patients, parents don't always have the funds left to send their children to college. Circle of Life hopes to help these families.\n"Most people affected by a terminal illness don't have the opportunity to go to college because of medical bills," Roper said. "Although there is a lot of financial aid, sometimes there is not enough."\nIn addition to the mini-marathon, Circle of Life has workings underway to raise funds for the scholarship. The club is organizing a celebrity appearance for the fall, and although specific donors and sponsors have not yet been finalized, the club is planning the involvement of local businesses, student organizations, the Bloomington community and cancer survivors, Theising said.\nThe public relations team for Circle of Life is currently working with Bloomington to find a specific weekend available for the mini-marathon, since 13.2 miles of road will be closed for the event.\n"We wanted to announce the event early to give people time to train," Theising said.\nCircle of Life members are hoping to expand missions and move toward helping other causes like natural disaster and AIDS relief.\nThe club is composed of four teams: marketing, legal, public relations and finance. Members of Circle of Life choose which team they would like to join.\n"By breaking it down into teams, it's smaller, more hands on, and you can use each other's ideas more," MacCauley said.\nCircle of Life will create a Web site within the next month for those interested in learning more or becoming a member.\n"We are always taking in new members," MacCauley said. \n-- Contact Staff Writer Daria Kamalipour at dkamalip@indiana.edu.