When Audrey Leeman, a client services supervisor for Atlanta Galleria tenant Digital Insurance, learned she had lupus more than two years ago, she didn’t take the diagnosis lying down. In fact, she’s been trying to “stick it” to the autoimmune disease ever since.
She and her Digital Insurance colleagues did just that last week, when they raised more than $2,300 to fund research into the disease and to support those suffering from it. Through a fundraising effort they are calling “Stick It to Lupus,” Leeman and her co-workers sold more than 2,300 pieces of tape for a $1 each; the pieces were then used to stick Leeman, Digital Insurance CEO Adam Bruckman and Senior Programmer Analyst Kenith Threatte to a wall.
“Audrey’s passion and enthusiasm is so inspiring,” said Maria Myler, president and CEO of the Lupus Foundation of America’s Georgia Chapter, at the taping event. “She’s done so much to help spread the word, so that other people are aware of the signs and symptoms of a disease that can take three to four years to diagnose.”
The taping isn’t the only component of the “Stick It” campaign. Leeman is hoping to raise another $2,700 — for a total of $5,000 — by the end of May, and additional fundraising initiatives will include a silent auction, the company’s participation in the Atlanta Lupus Walk this Saturday and the placement of purple donation cans at the Atlanta Galleria’s Food Truck Tuesdays. Digital Insurance will have a table at the Food Truck Tuesday on May 13.
May is Lupus Awareness Month. Lupus affects more than 1.5 million people nationwide.
For more information, email Leeman's donation page.