With my fellow Mayors and Village Presidents at the Joint Proclamation Ceremony, April 2014

One important thing that I can do to help others as Village President is to lend my voice in support of worthy causes.  Lung cancer is a disease that has affected members of my community and my own family.  Today was the annual Breathe Deep North Shore 5K run, walk, and balloon launch event held in Deerfield to support LUNGevity Foundation and the fight against lung cancer.  I joined together with 18 fellow Mayors and Village Presidents from the northern suburbs to jointly proclaim today Breathe Deep North Shore Day, and bring awareness to this cause.   Did you know that 1 in 14 Americans is diagnosed with lung cancer in their lifetime?  Or that lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death, taking more lives than breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers combined?  These are pretty sobering statistics.  Fortunately, groups such as LUNGevity are working hard to raise funds to have an immediate impact on increasing the quality of life and survivorship of people with lung cancer by accelerating research into early detection and more effective treatments.  By providing community, support, and education for all those affected by this disease, we can all make a difference in the fight against lung cancer.  It is an honor, to play my small part in helping this succeed.