Come September, STIR Post EP/partner Mindy Verson will be on the other side of the globe, participating in breast cancer survivor Olivia Newton-John’s ONJ Wellness Walking & Research Run Sept. 11 in Melbourne, Australia.
The Run helps to raise vital research funds for the singer’s ONJ Cancer & Wellness Centre.
“I’m really excited,” Chicago-native Verson says about her 18 day visit to Australia, a destination she’s dreamed of visiting since she was a child and a faithful fan of “Skippy the Bush Kangaroo” TV show.
“The Research Run is a 5K walk, which I’ll be doing, or 5K or 10K run at your own pace, on a university’s 2.5 acre ring road. But it’s about raising money, really,” she says.
And that’s what Verson has been doing for the legendary singer’s ONJ Cancer, Wellness & Research Centre “since 2003, before the ground for the Centre was even broken,” she says.
Verson again will be a 5,000 AUD corporate Bronze sponsor of the Research Run. “It’s my private way of giving,” she says.
A more public way is working with her five-person Australian team of walkers, who last year raised 10,000 AUD for the walk. So far this year the team has raised $2,000, with the ultimate “hopeful goal” of raising $20,000 for the September ONJ Run.
Verson calls Newton-John “very grateful, generous of spirit and dedicated to improving the lives of others stricken with cancer and defeating it.”
Newton-John, who is 24 years cancer free, recently reached out to Verson to oversee an eBay auction of signed memorabilia that helped raise over 8500AUD for the ONJCWRC.
Verson calls her contributions her “legacy, a way to pay it forward on behalf of everyone who has been helped by the Centre.”
Now she is encouraging others to participate by sponsoring her steps in this walk “to help kick cancer’s butt.” Check out Verson’s donation page here.
