Getting and Giving

April in Baltimore brings the first robins, dogwood and redbud, warmer days, and HopeWell’s spring festival. That’s how I think of our REACHOUT & RUN. For the past 12 years I have arrived at the race and wondered, “Who are all these people?”

I know many of them, of course. They are cancer survivors, families and friends, volunteers and donors… staff. But these familiar faces make up less than 5% of each year’s thousand-plus race participants and onlookers.

Who are all those other strangers? Beyond the obvious runners and walkers, there are so many other people… eating breakfast, perusing the exhibits, gathering on the stage, greeting friends, lining up at the Wall of Hope. They all have one thing in common. Prominent or anonymous, they have all made a significant gift to us.

It might be a well-organized team of contributors or a single race entry fee, 20 dozen bagels or volunteering a couple of hours to direct traffic. It might come from someone who has been actively planning this event for months or someone who decided just yesterday to show up as a spontaneous act of kindness. But whoever these strangers are, they demonstrate the ancient truth that giving is good for people. This is one of the core principles underlying support groups… underlying HopeWell itself. The emotional lift that comes from a renewed sense of meaning—giving as well as receiving compassion—is what attracts many to HopeWell each week.

Realizing that everyone faces cancer in their own way, we offer two different kinds of group support at HopeWell. First, we offer something called Networking Groups. These groups are organized around a particular diagnosis and are held on a drop-in basis. HopeWell also offers Participant Groups—a more established weekly meeting for people facing all kinds and stages of cancer. For more information about support groups, or other HopeWell programs, you can reach us at programs@hopewellcancersupport.org.

In a support group, people are often surprised to learn that giving support to others feels as good as getting support from the group. At community-wide events like our race, the outpouring of “giving” motivates an even wider generosity. Each spring, REACHOUT & RUN seems to prove what the Dalai Lama recommends: “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”