Brandi Sachs - Volunteering to Find a Cure

Brandi Sachs is a friend of mine and is very active in the Relay For Life of Polk County.  This article about her was published in a local paper, The Polk County Pulse.

Citizen of the Week by LeAnn Dilbeck - Published in the October 17, 2012 issue of The Polk County Pulse.



Family is an integral part of who so many of us are.  But for many it goes much deeper and defines who we are.  A statement that can be said for this week's Citizen, Brandi Myers Sachs.  And family is who has inspired one of her greatest passions...an active outspoken champion of the Polk County Relay For Life.

"It was devastating," says Myers through tears when she remembers getting the call that her Aunt Peggy had pancreatic cancer.  Her aunt underwent treatments but lost her battle within only a few short months of diagnosis.  Brandi had known of others with cancer but had never had the devastating illness strike so bitterly close to home and says she regrets now taking so long to become involved in helping to find a cure.



"When you become involved with Relay, you are helping to find a cure...97 cents of every dollar raised goes to research," says Sachs, and it is in that she finds great healing.  "It's too late for my aunt but it's not too late for my mom or your aunt or your daughter...or on and on."  Through grief and loss, Brandi has discovered a passion that she chooses to champion a cause and make a profound difference...a difference that she may never actually see but finds inspiration and comfort in knowing she was part of a larger cause that worked to eradicate an illness that has devestated families across the globe.

Brandi moved to Mena with her parents Don and Judye Myers along with brothers Cotye and Justin when she was just two.  Don had been sent on "assignment" by his father to open a Sonic Drive-In.  And that he did.  The Myers Sonic Drive-In became a cornerstone business on the corner of Cherry and Hwy 71 as well as part of at least two generations of teenagers' memories that made the drive-in a regular weekend and after-school hangout spot.  In 2000, the family made a very tough decision to discontinue their Sonic franchise and the restaurant became Myers Cruizzers Drive-In.  "It was a really big decision for my Dad but he believed as long as we continued to give good service we'd be fine."  Brandi said the business barely experienced a hiccup and the customers continued to turn-in day after day.



Now the three siblings share the responsibility of running the same drive-in that was such a big part their own childhood.  Brandi graduated from Mena High School in 1991 and married her husband, David, in 1996.  The couple have two children, Ridge age 14, and Brickie, age 10.  "My life didn't begin untill I had them," sand Brandi.



She said the family enjoys camping, four-wheeling, and just spending time together.  Each of the Myers siblings have homes near their parents, Don and Judye.

Just as passionate as her advocacy for cancer, Brandi wants her children to have the same childhood she had where her parents instilled the values and beliefs she still carries today.  "You want to raise them right...raise them so they know how to make the right choices."

Brandi also enjoys photography but even in her hobby it is in her appreciation for family that she finds fulfillment.  When asked what she found the most fulffilling about her photography, she said immediately and simply, "preserving those memories for the families."

Quite satisfied raising her family in the same hometown where she was raised, Brandi enjoys working at the drive-in, being a wife and a mom.  When asked where she saw herself in ten years, she said, "well, I hope as happy and as blessed as I have been the last ten!"

 

Even Our Adversaries

I recently read an editorial in the Adventist Review written by Steven Chavez titled, Even Our Adversaries.   It made an impression on me and this post borrows heavily from it.

Not long after He had washed His disciples’ feet at the last supper, Jesus spoke to them.  His words are recorded in John 13:35: "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”.  His words still challenge us with a nearly impossible goal: to demonstrate our loyalty to Jesus by the way we love and serve each other.

Jesus didn’t say that proper doctrine would prove we are His disciples; Even though understanding the Bible is important.  He didn’t say that our understanding of Bible prophecy would prove that we are His disciples. Jesus said that people would know His followers by their commitment to love everyone—the lovely and the unlovely.

Aren’t there more important things to worry about?  What could be more important than the one thing that shows the world that we are disciples of Jesus?  Apparently it is too much to ask of Christians because by and large we are known much more for those we hate than those we love.

But if loving one another is too difficult, I’d settle for just a little civility from Christians. I’m tired of the incivility in both words and actions among those who find themselves on opposite sides of the many issues facing our country. I’m not asking people to ignore their differences, or that they should not take principled stands; I’m only asking that our conversation and correspondence—both public and private—be done in a spirit of Jesus.

We can disagree with one another without resorting to name-calling, baseless rumors, and innuendo, but we can’t call ourselves Christian unless we love one another—even our adversaries.

DeGray Lake

After attending church we drove to DeGray Lake for the afternoon. My wife had driven to Arkadelphia on Thursday to speak as an American Cancer Society Hero of Hope at the FCCLA meeting at Henderson State University. The drive was beautiful with the beginnings of fall color, so she wanted to go back to the area when I could go.

The drive was beautiful even if the day was overcast. We saw a lot of beautiful scenery on our way to DeGray Lake. We even saw a bobcat cross the road and were able to pull off the road and watch it for a while.  I love old barns, and had to stop and photograph this one.

Our first stop at DeGray Lake was at the Point Cedar Campground, one of eight different campgrounds that surround the lake.  Last year  I was invited to speak at the Arkansas-Louisiana Pathfinder Camporee held at Point Cedar.  Even though it is less that two hours from my house I had never been there before.  It is such a beautiful place that I had always intended to come back, but yesterday was the first time that I was able to.

While we were at Point Cedar, we found a very interesting tree and thought that it would make a great place to take photos.

The most visited place on DeGray Lake is  the DeGray Lake Resort State Park.  It  is Arkansas’s only resort state park. It is in the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains along the north shore of the 13,800-acre lake. DeGray offers all the outdoor adventure and quality of an Arkansas State Park combined with resort class amenities. DeGray is a fishing and water sports paradise, a golf resort, the ideal camping spot and the perfect location for family vacations, getaways, reunions, weddings, business meetings and retreats.

We went on the Sunset Cruise while we were there.  Our park interpreter was excellent and the evening was great.  Even though the day had been overcast, the sun broke through so there was a  beautiful sunset.  DeGray Lake is known for it's Bald Eagles, and we were able to see two of them during the cruise.  The sunset was a magnificent end to a special day.

Fordlandia

On our trip this last weekend we started listening to the podcast, Stuff You Missed in History Class. One of the podcasts was on Henry Ford. I thought I knew quite a lot about Henry, but I learned something new; I learned about Fordlandia. In the 1920's Ford Motor Company was producing over a million cars a year. Henry Ford needed rubber to make tires, hoses and other parts for the cars. Rubber does not grow in Michigan, and European producers enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the rubber trade because of their Asian colonies. So Henry decided to grow his own. In 1927 he decided to get it by carving a plantation and a miniature Midwest factory town out of the Amazon jungle. He called it Fordlandia.

The site chosen for Ford’s new rubber plantation was an area of some 2.5 million acres on the banks of the Tapajós River, a tributary of the Amazon about 600 miles from the Atlantic. It took Ford’s agents approximately 18 hours to reach the place by riverboat from the nearest town. Ford’s vision was a replica Midwestern town, with modern plumbing, hospitals, schools, sidewalks, tennis courts and even a golf course. There would be no drink or other forms of immorality, but gardening for all and chaste dances every week.

Ford tried to use his knowledge of mass industrial production on the diversity of the jungle. But the Amazon is one of the most complex ecological systems in the world — and didn't fit into Ford's plan. Ford was so distrustful of experts that he never even consulted one about rubber trees. If he had he would have learned that plantation rubber can't be grown in the Amazon. The pests and the fungi and the blight that feed off of rubber are native to the Amazon. Basically, when you put trees close together in the Amazon, what you in effect do is create a feast for the pests. The Fordlandia plantation actually accelerated the production of caterpillars, leaf blight and other organisms that prey on rubber.

Just like the rubber plantation didn't work, neither did Henry's idea of creating a utopian society in the middle of the jungle.  Although he built nice homes for the workers and built modern schools, his work force was never happy.  There was tremendous turnover.  He didn’t like drinking, so he prohibited alcohol.  He tried to regulate the diet of Brazilian workers. He had very rigid thoughts on healthy food, so he had them eating whole rice and whole wheat bread and canned Michigan peaches and oatmeal. There were riots over the food.  He also tried to regulate their recreational time. He introduced square dancing to replace the samba.

The Brazilian workers resisted the heavy attempt to regulate every aspect of their lives, not just the industrial regime, but also their diet, their sanitation and medical regulation. And during one riot in particular, they smashed all the time clocks.

Ford spent about a billion dollars, in inflation-adjusted dollars, on this project, and not one drop of latex made it into a Ford car. It was an absolute failure. In 1945 it was sold to the Brazilian government for $244,200.

In the video below is an interview with NYU professor Greg Grandin about his new book, Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City.

Local Relay Leaders Attend Leadership Summit

 Article published in the September 27, 2012 issue of The Mena Star

The American Cancer Society held the Mid-South Division Relay For Life Leadership Summit September 21^st and 22^nd at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Arkansas.  Four members of the Relay For Life of Polk County committee attended the Summit; Richie and Regina Lawry, Crystal Mos, and Debbie Welch.  The purpose of the Summit was to inspire hope, courage, and determination in the fight to eliminate cancer. If there is one word that defines Relay For Life it is "hope".

The Relay For Life Leadership Summit welcomed over 1,200 volunteers from Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky.  The theme of the Summit was Dream Big - Hope Big - Relay Big.  Cancer is a BIG foe.  To defeat it we are going to have to Dream BIG, Hope BIG and Relay BIG.  In 2011, Arkansas held 71 Relay For Life events with 1,534 teams and 2,990 cancer survivors participating. Arkansas Relayers are looking for bigger things in 2013.

Relay For Life represents the hope that those lost to cancer will never be forgotten, that those who face cancer will be supported, and that one day cancer will be eliminated.  Relay For Life is more than just a fundraiser. It’s a life-changing experience. At Relay, every person in the community has a chance to celebrate, remember, and fight back. And every person who participates joins others around the globe as part of this worldwide movement to end cancer.

The Relay For Life of Polk County attendees came back determined to dream big, hope big and Relay big.  If you would like to be a part of something big, call Regina Lawry at 479-234-1608.

Relay For Life Leadership Summit

 

Recently my wife and I attended the 2012 Relay For Life Leadership Summit held at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee.  The purpose of the Summit is to inspire hope, courage and determination in the fight to eliminate cancer. If there is one word that defines Relay For Life it is "hope". 

It is inspiring to spend time with hundreds of volunteers whose main objective is to provide hope for the all too many people who are affected by cancer. In a world that sometimes seems consumed with distrust and hatred of people who are different in race, religion or political beliefs, it filled me with hope to see a group of people who are so willing to give of their money and time to benefit others and to give them hope. 

 

Relay For Life represents the hope that those lost to cancer will never be forgotten, that those who face cancer will be supported, and that one day cancer will be eliminated.  Relay For Life is more than just a fundraiser. It’s a life-changing experience. At Relay, every person in the community has a chance to celebrate, remember, and fight back. And every person who participates joins others around the globe as part of this worldwide movement to end cancer.

 

The theme of the Summit was Dream Big - Hope Big - Relay Big.  Cancer is a BIG foe.  To defeat it we are going to have to Dream BIG, Hope BIG and Relay BIG.  In 2011, Arkansas held 71 Relay For Life events with 1,534 teams and 2,990 cancer survivors participating.  As awesome as that was 2013 needs to be really BIG.

 

Although the Summit was thought provoking and inspiring, it was also a lot of fun. Friday evening we were to dress Big.  It was fun seeing all of these serious hard working volunteers having such a good time.  There was even an Arkansas hayseed there.

My wife is an American Cancer Society Hero of Hope.  Heros are cancer survivors and caregivers whose work exemplifies the mission of the American Cancer Society.  They speak wherever they are invited to tell their story of how cancer has affected their life.  These Heroes of Hope enjoyed spending a few moments together.

 

We had a great time and left inspired to have an even BIGGER and BETTER Relay For Life event in Polk County in 2013.

If you aren't involved in Relay For Life find an event happening near you by clicking on this link.  There are over 5,200 Relays in the United States. 

 

 







 

Lights of Hope

Yesterday evening my wife and I drove to Little Rock to attend the 3rd Annual Lights of Hope held on the Capitol steps to urge Arkansas' Legislature to make cancer a priority.  It was a beautiful day with perfect temperatures for the event.  The event was hosted by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network

ACS CAN is the nation’s leading cancer advocacy organization that is working every day to make cancer issues a national priority.  Many of the most important decisions about cancer are made outside of your doctor’s office. Instead, they are made by your state legislature, in Congress and in the White House.

ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, is holding lawmakers accountable for their words and their actions. They ask that our leaders not only talk about fighting cancer but take real steps toward decreasing the number of people suffering and dying from cancer.

My wife was the keynote speaker at the Lights of Hope event.  She is an American Cancer Society Hero of Hope.  In her speech she told the story of her mothers struggle with cancer.  Even though her mother's cancer was terminal, she agreed to be a part of a bone marrow study that was funded by the American Cancer Society.  My wife and her family tried to talk her out of it knowing how painful it would be, but she said, "you never know who you might help".  She lost her battle with cancer in 1976.  20 years later a bone marrow transplant, made possible by that research from 1976, saved my wife's sister's life.  During this past year my wife's cousin was diagnosed with Leukemia and was told that without a bone marrow transplant his life expectancy was just three months.  After a successful bone marrow transplant his cancer is now in remission.  My wife's mother was willing to take part in research because it might help a complete stranger not knowing that it would end up saving the lives of family that she loved.  Research that is being conducted today will save many lives in the future.

You can see her speech from the Lights of Hope event here.

 Luminaria lined the walkway to the Capital. We walked along the walkway and found the luminaria for my wife's mother and sister. Seeing the luminaria there reminded us of why we are involved in the fight against cancer.


Cancer seems to touch everyone. We all have family members or friends who have battled cancer. Some have won and some have lost, but because of the efforts of so many volunteers there are more winners every year. That is why I am so proud of my wife's involvement with the American Cancer Society, and why I am involved. 1 out of every 100 Americans participates in the American Cancer Society's premier event, Relay For Life. If you are not one of them won't you consider becoming involved. Click on the link below to find a Relay For Life event in your area. There are more that 5,000 Relay's across the USA. Find a Relay For Life in your area.