Community Clicks

I used to walk it. This year, I’m running it.

The Race for the Cure comes each year to Detroit, and over the last 10 years, I’ve donned my Team Compuware T-shirt all but three times to join thousands of runners and walkers in this vital cause.

Compuware was (and still is) a huge sponsor of the event the year I first signed up. Being an employee and a woman, it just seemed the right thing to do. As an old boss of mine once told me, “I volunteer and donate because I’d like to think if I should ever need help, someone would be there for me.”

I’ve never seen anything like it. The numbers were just staggering — a wave of humanity washing over Woodward Avenue. Many were, like me, a supporter of the cause. Yet, there were so many others — patients and survivors. And then the friends and families who honored their loved ones lost to cancer. I saw their determination. I saw it first on their backs as they wore T-shirts with photos, dates and sentiments: “She may be gone, but we fight on.”  Then I saw it on their faces.

That first year touched me so deeply, I wanted, in some small way, give hope and comfort to those I never met in the fight against breast cancer.  It’s why I keep returning.

This year, however, is different.

A dear cousin on my husband’s side lost her battle to breast cancer just a few weeks ago — the day before her birthday. She would have been 65.

Marie was first diagnosed with breast cancer many years ago. She fought that battle and won, having gone into remission. However, a couple of years ago the news broke: The cancer had come back with a vengeance.

I’d see her frequently at holidays, graduations, birthdays and family get-togethers while she underwent a series of treatments. I’d ask her how she was doing, and Marie always replied with a smile, “just fine.” That wasn’t always the truth. I just can’t imagine the strength it took to get up and ready to head to a family function. No matter how tired or “off” she felt, Marie never missed a one.

She was determined that way.

So much so that she requested there would be no funeral or wake. Marie requested instead that her body be donated to science for breast cancer research. Marie was determined to beat this disease even in death. Her daughter told me, “Isn’t that just like her, caring about others over herself.”

I couldn’t admire Marie more.

This year, as I lace up my shoes, I’m determined to run across that finish line for the cause — and for Marie.

If you’d like to do your part, visit the 2013 Race for the Cure official website to find a race in your area.

In time of war, “the greatest casualty is being forgotten.”

Such is the motto of the Wounded Warrior Project, a charity which provides programs and services to severely injured service members during the time between active duty and transition to civilian life.

To help ensure they’re remembered, Compuware Wellness Specialist Denny Lugar, whose father served many tours in the U.S. Army, came up with a novel idea. He invited members of the company’s fitness center to participate in an intensive workout class for two months on Fridays during the lunch hour. All anyone had to do to join the class was make a monetary donation to the Wounded Warrior Project.

Compuware employees working toward a cause: the Wounded Warrior Project.

“I believe very strongly in this project,” said Lugar. “Those guys take care of us, so we should take care of them when they come back home from service. I teach my sons to give back to the community, and this is an opportunity to practice what I preach. I always tell my boys that real super heroes wear dog tags, not capes.”

The charitable idea caught on pretty well. Each week a dozen or more employees worked out, while others dropped by the Compuware Fitness Center to make a donation. In total, $500 was raised to support the Wounded Warrior Project.

Both women and men participated in the workout, and many have family members who have served in the military. “It is an honor to assist our servicemen returning from war,” said Christina Sampt, a Compuware project coordinator. “My father is one of many in my family, and among my friends, who have served or continue to serve in the Army, Air Force, Marines and Navy.”

Like Sampt, Compuware software developer Chris Hart has many family members who have served in the military.

“I think of the ‘pain’ we go through during the workout when our muscles are burning and we are out of breath and tired.  Then I think that it pales in comparison to what our military goes through each day,” he said. “I think of them and push a little harder because my ‘pain’ will be over in 30 minutes, but theirs may go on for a lifetime. Donating money is easy. They do the difficult work.”

Yes, they do the tough work. But because of the Wounded Warrior Project, their sacrifices will not be forgotten — and their service is honored by many at Compuware.

Peruvian children enjoyed socks and other much-needed items with thanks to the humanitarian fund established by Compuware employee Ray Villalobos.

Like father, like son.

The late Regulo Villalobos Diaz, M.D., was a humanitarian in Peru, and his son, Ray Villalobos, follows in his footsteps.  Dr. Villalobos Diaz was a champion for providing medical and educational assistance to the impoverished.

In honor of his father’s work with underprivileged people, Ray, a Compuware program director in Detroit, founded “The Regulo Villalobos Diaz, M.D. Peru Humanitarian Fund.” He started it as a relief effort after the massive earthquake that hit the coastal region of central Peru in 2007.

During the crisis, the fund provided food and basic medicines to about 3,200 people in five small villages for three months. “It was very rewarding to get updates from my uncle, Manuel, who was running the humanitarian effort on the ground after the earthquake,” Ray said. “He said the people there were extremely thankful for the help they received and without our effort, these families would have fallen through the cracks of all the other relief agencies.”

The fund also sponsored other initiatives.  For example, the foundation provided meals and Christmas presents to 70 underprivileged children at a school in Chosecani, a village in the country’s central Andean region. Forty children at an orphanage in Villa El Salvador, south of the capital of Lima, also received Christmas meals and presents through the humanitarian fund.

The Villalobos’ humanitarian fund brought joy at Christmas.

For the 2013 school year, which runs from March to December, the fund also sponsored an English teacher at a school in Cucuya, a small village two hours southeast of Lima. Seventy-five disadvantaged children attend the school and receive English lessons twice a week during the school year. Students also participate in a “pen pal” exchange between kids in Cucuya and the fourth grade class of Ray’s son, Aidan, at Cass Elementary School in Livonia, Mich.

“I thought it would be great if we could give the kids a language tool, such as English, which they can use for the rest of their lives,” said Ray. ”Knowing English will help them better themselves and perhaps get a job with the tourism industry in Peru.”

Additionally, the fund will assist a shelter for battered girls in the village of Pachacamac, south of Lima.  There are currently 35 girls in this home, with ages ranging from 3 to 18.

Ray has big — but practical — dreams for the youths.

“My father instilled in his children that we must work hard, and education is a priority.  Those are the values that I want to have passed down through the foundation.  The greatest reward for me will be when these kids grow up to be productive members of their communities.”

Spoken like a true servant of mankind.

Like father, like son.