Dear Friend Spring is in the air – which means that Lupus Awareness Month is right around the corner! 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! Next month we have our Lupus Update webinar with Dr. Rosalind Ramsey Goldman. Don't forget to register for this great opportunity to hear from a lupus expert about what's new in lupus research and treatments. This is the last weekend 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 just had a team at the Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle – and this year's team included some new young runners and some of our marathon runners! A special shout out to Kelsey and Brian for coming in from Massachusetts for the event! And LSI is promoting Night of Beauty – an event sponsored by GSK and NARS cosmetics hosted at Sephora on April 16th. The event includes full makeovers for a select number of lupus patients and a fun event for everyone in the lupus community! LSI will be there along with many of our greatest support group leaders and volunteers. Find out more about this event and register here. We look forward to seeing you at an upcoming LSI activity! Together we make a difference. Mary Dollear
President | 
