Back in February, we opened the application process for the 2nd Annual LupusChickChristi Henderson college stipend award, which helps a special man or woman living with lupus – and in school – to pay for supplies, books, tuition, or other expenses. This year we are thrilled to give away two more awards – our 12th and 13th!
Typically, these financial stipends are donated through brands, organizations, individual sponsors or from our founder, Marisa Zeppieri and her husband Mickey.
For the year 2020 and 2021, John Howard of Kentucky, along with the American Legion of Owensboro Kentucky, held a motorcycle run and raised money to give to a specific organization. Along with his friends, they decided they wanted to give it to a lupus organization in honor of their friend Todd Henderson who had lost his wife Christi to the disease on May 1 – the same day that Lupus Awareness Month kicks off globally each year. In her honor, we have named this stipend after her.
Our goal with the motorcycle run was to raise enough for one $500 award and were grateful to find out the run had brought in enough for four awards to be given over time!
As always, we were amazed by the essays we received – each story was so special and shared insight into how Lupus has affected each person in a different way. It was a tough decision for our board members, and John and Todd.
In fact, the decision was more difficult than we imagined. Two stories stood out and we couldn’t choose one over the other, so we made an unexpected decision – to give out two of our LupusChick/Christi Henderson awards this year instead of the usual one!
We are so excited to announce the winners:
- David Hughes– “Winning the stipend is actually a symbol of the support I have from the lupus community. My plan is to use the money for textbooks for college as I continue my academic career majoring in Psychology.”
2. Yasmine Shakur – “This stipend means that I can help fund my career in public health the better serve the lupus community that has welcomed me over the past 11 years! I’m so excited for the future and look forward to sharing it with everyone.”
Stay tuned as we highlight both of our winners on our social media soon! We want to thank everyone who applied – reading your stories and what you have overcome has left a mark on each of our lives. We can’t thank Todd, John, and their friends and supporters for choosing LupusChick to bless the life of another person living with lupus – well, actually two people again this year!
Our next stipend will be this fall, so keep an eye out~
More soon – XOXO,
Marisa
Be the first to comment