February 4th is a day meant to bring hope and raise awareness of cancer and the millions of people who are fighting it.  In honor of World Cancer Day, we’d like to encourage our community to take action and support those friends and family members who are currently battling cancer.  Here’s a few ways to do this:

• If you are actively fundraising for a loved one who has been diagnosed with cancer, send an email to all your friends and family telling them about World Cancer Day.  Tell them that making a donation to your GiveForward fundraiser is the best way to participate in World Cancer Day because they personally know the person who will benefit from their contribution.
• If you are already a Giveasaurus Superstar and have made a donation to a fundraiser supporting a cancer patient on GiveForward, give yourself a big pat on the back! Now you can spread that good karma by helping promote that fundraiser to everyone you know and encouraging them to celebrate World Cancer Day the same way you did- by making a donation!
• If you haven’t helped a random stranger shovel their driveway or completed your random act of kindness lately, give to any of the wonderful projects on GiveForward that are supporting one of the millions who is battling cancer. Find a fundraiser that speaks to you.

No matter how you participate in World Cancer Day, make sure that you take a moment to celebrate those who have won the fight with cancer, to inspire those who are still fighting, and to honor the beautiful souls of those who have bravely lost the fight.

February 4 is World Cancer Day—a global day of awareness created by the International Union Against Cancer.

With so many members of the GiveForward community battling cancer, we hear every day from our community that words of encouragement from friends and family can make a HUGE difference in a cancer fighter’s attitude and health.

In honor of World Cancer Day, we’re  encouraging everyone to take five minutes today to call or email someone you know battling cancer just to remind them that they’re not fighting this battle alone.   If you really want to make a SUPER-DUPER, HUGE difference, take two minutes to email your friends or office workers and encourage them to do the same.   If your friend battling cancer gets 10 emails today from friends and family just imagine how much that will cheer her up.

In addition to phone calls and emails here are some other silly ways you can cheer up a friend:

• Mail them random cheesy postcards from not-so-distant locales
• Surprise them with an inappropriately funny video
• email them a joke
• email them this photo
• Take a goofy picture of yourself on your phone and send it to them as a text message.
• Send them an annoyingly cute ecard from Hoops and YoYo
• Secretly hide a $20 in their jeans pocket when they are not looking ( Note: if they are wearing skinny jeans this may take ninja-like skills to pull off…)

For more ideas on how to cheer up a friend battling cancer, check out a great organization called Spirit Jump, whose motto is “fighting cancer one gift at a time”.

Lastly, don’t forget to smile today! Laughter really is the best medicine.