Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/101703
SPIRIT OF GENEROSITY FROM LEFT: Cofounders Tamara Forys and Brendan Hanrahan run with Zach Bender and fellow cofounder Bobby Gill. Drew Leathers, the inspiration for Cupid's Undie run, with scantily clad supporters. stripped-down philanthropy N o formalwear is required to attend the city's most buzzed-about new fundraiser. Instead, the Cupid's Undie Run, which benefits neurofibromatosis (NF) research through the Children's Tumor Foundation, asks participants to strip off the usual gala garb—and then keep stripping down to their underwear. When the event debuts in Chicago on February 9, a horde of half-naked runners will expose themselves to the frigid February air as they run a 1.5-mile loop around Wrigley Stadium. If it makes you uncomfortable, that's the point. "Kids who have NF have to overcome big obstacles on a day-to-day basis," says Tamara Forys, one of the event's cocreators. "We wanted to put people in a situation [where] they're doing something uncomfortable and a little bit crazy." The race—or event, rather, as there's no official winner or even a real finish line—ends at Houndstooth Saloon (3369 N. Clark St.), where the crowd of bodies and a little booze warms everyone back up as they celebrate their achievement (and put their clothes back on). The idea for Cupid's Undie Run began with Chad Leathers—whose brother Drew was diagnosed with Schwannomatosis (the most rare form of NF) when he was 11 years old—and Brendan Hanrahan and Bobby Gill. The genetic disease causes tumors to grow along the nerves all over the body, and its effects are highly variable. Some people live without knowing they have NF; others are plagued with learning disabilities, hearing loss, deformation of the bones, and other debilitating symptoms. In 2009 Drew became paraplegic and spent 183 days in the hospital; the rest of the year he was bedridden. Chad, who was living in Atlanta, moved to New York to be closer to Drew and work full-time for the Children's Tumor Foundation. He was determined to help his brother, and to do so he had to bring more attention to the relatively unknown disease. continued on page 54 "There are a thousand 5k's, so how do we do something different? How about we take our pants off?" 52 MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM 052-055_MA_SP_SpiritofGen_Winter13.indd 52 PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEVIN CARROLL (COFOUNDERS); JOHN RAMSPOTT (DREW) THANKS TO THIS MONTH'S INAUGURAL CHICAGO CUPID'S UNDIE RUN TO BENEFIT THE CHILDREN'S TUMOR FOUNDATION, DOING GOOD JUST GOT A WHOLE LOT SEXIER. BY ELLE EICHINGER —CHAD LEATHERS 1/2/13 12:11 PM