Dear Friend We have been so busy here at the LSI! We were invited to participate in GSK’s Us in Lupus Night of Beauty event. We were thrilled to see so many people in the lupus community come out for this event! We also started a new series through CANTV – you can watch the first episode here. This is part of a new monthly program and the best part is all of the episodes will be housed on our YouTube page. If you have suggestions for future episodes, please let me know. We also hosted the Lupus Update with Dr. Ramsey Goldman webinar. If you missed the event, don’t worry! We’ve posted the entire webinar here – where it will be archived permanently. Time flies - Lupus Awareness Month starts next week! We hope you take the opportunity to increase lupus awareness! We have LOTS of ideas on how you can use this month to educate YOUR community about lupus! Click here for more and don’t hesitate to contact me with any new ideas! We have some exciting surprises in store for the lupus community this May. In addition to sending out facts of the day, providing tools to help you raise awareness about lupus in your community and our annual Northern & Southern Suburbs Illinois Lupus Walks, we are introducing the 2019 Chicago Spring Half Marathon & 10K event on May 19, 2019 and Bike the Drive on May 26, 2019. And talk about a FUN FUNdraiser, the LSI's Associate Board (formerly the Junior Board) is also hosting an event on May 2, 2019 - a Night with Jackie Fabulous! We even have information on a volunteer driven event: the Southern Suburbs Walk Team Gayla's Gang's annual fundraiser! The event is at Chicago Dough in New Lenox from 4:30-8:30pm. Whenever we talk about our programs and services, we have to discuss our fundraising activities like the Illinois Lupus Walks - because we simply couldn't provide the programs and services without the success of these events. Besides being important fundraisers they are also awareness builders! Many in the lupus community first hear about us from the Illinois Lupus Walks and then benefit from our free programs and services. If you haven't been to an Illinois Lupus Walk, we hope to see you there and if you have, now's the time to register for 2019! You can find out more here. Send me an email with information on your event or activity and we'll post it on our Lupus Awareness Month page! This is the last week to join our Bank of America Chicago Marathon team for the 2019 Lupus Charity Runners Team! If you've ever thought about running a marathon, why not run it for us? We have a terrific program with a team of people from around the country who want to take on the challenge of a marathon while raising awareness and funds for the lupus community. Find out more about our program here. We hope to see you at an event coming up soon! Together, we make a difference! Mary Dollear
President, Lupus Society of Illinois | 
