HallieStrong on Q102
Our very own co-founder Bethany & Team Hallie member Kelly were featured on Cincinnati’s Q102 Give Back Tuesday segment this week! DJ Mollie Watson hosted them on the 30 minute segment to talk all things HallieStrong & our second annual Socktober which is coming up. Visit Mollie’s blog post about the broadcast here.
If you missed the broadcast, here is the link to listen to it. It definitely is a must listen!
Throughout the broadcast you heard us pick and play six different songs from the 90s-2000s that are meaningful to our foundation. Curious for the backstory on each? You’re in luck!
I’ll Be There For You: Friends! Need we say more? Pretty much everyone on Team Hallie is pretty obsessed with the show, especially Kelly, who named her dog Phoebe! Beyond the obvious, the meaning of this song perfectly encapsulates why we do what we do - wanting to show up in a time when people need it most. We did get a good laugh though, wondering how many people listening were realizing for the first time it’s an actual song, not just a ten second intro!
Hall of Fame: …and the world’s gonna know your name…our entire goal for our Hallie girl. Plus the lyric that says you can walk straight through hell with a smile - every package we send, we hope to be that small smile in the midst of the hell that is a cancer battle.
Everybody: Although Bethany & Kelly fought the same kind of cancer, we want to connect with any patient fighting any type of cancer. Regardless of stage, type, age, location, treatment plan, we want to spread Hallie’s Hope to …everybody!
Whoop! There It Is: tag team, back again! Such a great song that you’re probably singing in your head now after reading the first lyric. The only way you can survive cancer is finding the moments of levity and that’s exactly what this pick was by our co-founder Kevin, notorious for always drawing the positive out of any situation!
We are the Champions: ah, the ultimate anthem of Bethany’s. Anyone that knows her or has spent any amount of time with her knows she has proudly played (overplayed?) this song since beating cancer. There was also an epic beat cancer party that Kevin & Bethany hosted as a way to say thanks to everyone who had supported them so well throughout the darkest time of their life and rumor has it that party ended with a large circle of their closest friends and family singing along to this song, while spraying champagne. …But it's been no bed of roses, No pleasure cruise, I consider it a challenge before the whole human race, And I ain't gonna lose!
I’ll Stand By You: the tearjerker! We got a lot of texts while this one played that it was instant tears and we agree! On the surface, there are simply no more perfect lyrics for a cancer patient to hear from a family member or friend than this song. For the purpose of this broadcast, Bethany dedicated the song to Kelly. For those newer to our foundation, Bethany & Kelly met through a Facebook group of women with the same type of rare cancer. Kelly was three months ahead of Bethany and when she saw her post in desperation after being diagnosed, she immediately reached out. She became an instant source of comfort, knowledge, perspective, a true sounding board. What began as ‘cancer friends’ quickly became besties, and is now family. Kevin and Bethany asked Kelly to join Team Hallie in October of last year. Kelly means warrior and there is no truer description for her or better song to end the segment! Kelly and Bethany talk a lot about being each other’s silver lining in cancer and it’s all of our hope at HallieStrong to be the silver lining for as many cancer patients as we can be, in memory of Hallie!
During the broadcast we talked about our upcoming Socktober event, our biggest annual fundraiser and sockraiser! Socktober kicks off October 1st and lasts all month, with our goal to raise as many dollars and pairs of socks as we possibly can to put towards spreading Hallie’s Hope. If you’d be interested in hosting a sock drive at your work, church, school, etc, contact us today at hallieshope@halliestrong.org. We will work directly with you on all the details to make sure it’s an awesome event for your group! If you’d like to donate individually, all the details will be here on our website on how to donate.
Don’t want to wait to donate? We’d be grateful! To donate financially, visit halliestrong.org/donate. All donations are tax deductible! To learn how to donate socks, visit halliestrong.org/donate-socks. Thanks so much for your help in furthering Hallie’s Hope!
Big thanks again to Mollie & Q102 for having us on. We hope you enjoyed the broadcast as much as we did!