Dear Family and Friends, 

Every three minutes, someone unwillingly joins the fight of their life, along with more than one million others already fighting, against a blood cancer. This fall, we had the privilege of being nominated for this very special opportunity to join the fight to help blood cancer patients and their families. We, Team Heartland, are very excited to be running as a candidate group in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) 2021 Student of the Year campaign. The Student of the Year campaign is a seven-week leadership development program that runs from March 4th to April 22nd, wherein teams raise money and advocate for LLS. Today, we are writing to you to ask for your support on this incredible journey for LLS’s mission and our campaign. 

Together, we have gathered a group of committed family and friends, forming a team to help us on our journey. We all decided on a fundraising goal of $10,000! All the money raised will go directly to the largest donor to blood cancer research, LLS, to fund cutting-edge research and treatments. The research that LLS is funding benefits non-blood cancer patients too. More than 40% of new cancer treatment drugs approved by the FDA since 2004 that started as blood cancer drugs are now being applied to other forms of cancer. 

Our connection to cancer started in elementary school, with a classmate, “Grant the Great,” who was diagnosed with a brain tumor when he was sixteen months old. Through third grade, Grant was in and out of the hospital and appointments, fighting with all he had. In April of our third grade year, our class was delivered the horrible news that Grant had passed away. We were all very devastated about the loss of our great friend. We are running for Student of the Year in remembrance of our dear friend and with the hope that in the future, no one will have to suffer the grief of losing someone too soon to cancer. 

Our campaign will help to provide support for the critical work of LLS in hopes that one day, a cure will be found, and the millions of people already battling cancer will be free. We know that with your help, we can reach our goal and make a direct impact in the fight against blood cancers. 

We would like to thank you in advance for partnering with a campaign so near and dear to our hearts. 

There are two ways to make your tax-deductible contribution before April 22, 2021:

• Mail your tax-deductible contribution (cash or check) to one of these addresses: 

Marina Biermann- 2022 140th Street, Tripoli, IA 50676

Kylee Bartz- 1541 Orange Avenue, Tripoli, IA 50676  

*please make checks payable to “The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society” and print “Team Heartland” in the Memo. 

• Make a contribution online by visiting our campaign website:

https://events.lls.org/ia/iowasoy21/theartland

To further your donation — check if your company matches charitable gifts!

https://www.matchinggifts.com/lls/

If you would like to stay up to date with our campaign and events being held, please follow our Facebook page, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society- Team Heartland. 

We truly appreciate your contribution to Team Heartland and LLS and would like you to remember that every bit counts.

Sincerely, 

Team Heartland- Marina Biermann & Kylee Bartz 

2021 LLS Student of the Year Candidates

Thank you for visiting our fundraising page, welcome!

I encourage you to join us in supporting The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) by making a donation to our fundraising campaign. By donating to LLS, you support the many facets of LLS’s mission work from investing in groundbreaking research, providing education and support to patients, and advocating at the state and federal level for legislation to help those living with cancer. Our appreciation for your support cannot be overstated — each and every dollar donated to LLS brings us closer to our goal to end blood cancer and makes an impact for cancer patients and their families.

As a global leader in the fight to end cancer, LLS is committed to doing more for blood cancer patients and families than any organization in the world. LLS’s signature fundraising campaigns drive critical support for its mission, including a nearly $1.3 billion investment in cutting edge cancer research worldwide since it was founded in 1949. Since the 1960s, survival rates for many blood cancer patients have doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled.

Every facet of LLS’s mission – research, education and support, and policy and advocacy – work in harmony to put blood cancer patients and their families first. LLS has helped millions impacted by cancer throughout its more than 70-year history, even funding breakthrough blood cancer research to advance lifesaving treatments and cures that is now helping patients with other cancers and diseases. That is why at LLS we say that beating cancer is in our blood.

Please visit our website as often as you can and share it with everyone you know who would also like to join us in the fight against cancer. Together, we have the power, the passion and the resolve to achieve a world without blood cancer. All donations are tax-deductible.

On behalf of cancer patients and their families everywhere, we sincerely thank you for your support!

For more information about LLS, please visit lls.org