|
For the last seven years he has committed himself to the fight against blood-related cancers as a volunteer leader of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (formerly known as the Leukemia Society of America). Now he is mobilizing a nationwide effort of employees of Verizon, the global telecommunications company where Beckley serves as a senior specialist in marketing operations for the Enterprise Solutions Group (the group that provides sales and service support for Verizon's large business customers).
"The fight against these cancers transcends all boundaries," says Beckley, who works out of a virtual office in Nags Head, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Beckley first became involved when his father-in-law tragically passed away from chronic myelogenous leukemia. Now, Beckley and his wife, Bobbie, are focusing on recruiting Verizon employees nationwide to join the company's team in The Light The Night Walk, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's nationwide evening walk to celebrate and commemorate lives touched by cancer that will take place Sept. 21 to 24 in 170 U.S. cities.
Beckley has been inundated with calls from Verizon employees wanting to join the team since they read an article on the event in the company's newsletter. "Our employees are pulling together," he says. "There are very few people who are not affected by these cancers. I feel an urgency in our employees, who share their personal tragedies with me and are pledging their help."
"There are very few people who are not affected by these cancers. I feel an urgency in our employees, who share their personal tragedies with me and are pledging their help."
Beckley, who until recently lived in Virginia, participated in a pilot of the event in Richmond in 1998. He organized a Bell Atlantic team there last year (Verizon was formed following the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE), and served as the company's first regional team captain. Both the event and Beckley's team went national last year: $5 million was raised across the United States, including $23,000 from the Bell Atlantic team, which walked in 15 locations from Maine to Virginia.
Beckley hopes to have more than 100 walkers this year and double the amount raised. "We've already signed up 19 teams, from California, Texas, and Illinois, to numerous cities and counties in New York State," he says. "The year 2000 marks Verizon's first coast-to-coast team for charity."
He also expects most Verizon employees to register online. With Beckley's technical and marketing assistance, the Society has added a Verizon section to its Light The Night team page. Employees can click on the Verizon icon, learn about their local Light The Night Walk, and register right on the web. "This is a great way to use the Internet to help people," Beckley says. "I encouraged the Society to stage this web site so that companies throughout the nation could easily register their employees for this great event. With Verizon as the site's prototype, the Society can leverage our success in recruiting other companies in 2001."
Funds raised through The Light The Night Walk support the research and patient service programs of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, which has provided more than $200 Million in research funding since its inception in 1949. "The cancer researchers I've spoken with give me great hope that we will continue to see basic research translating into effective treatments and higher cure rates," says Beckley. The Society recently announced a major new research initiative, which will fund three special leukemia and lymphoma research centers at a total of $22 Million over three years. These centers are unique multidisciplinary programs that seek to answer some of the most important questions about blood-related cancers and accelerate the discovery of treatment breakthroughs.
Source: Verizon
CMLSupport Home Page This site was last updated on Sept. 16, 2000 Copyright © 2000 Jennifer M. Gangloff. These contents may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express written permission of the author, or she will beat you up and stuff. |