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SPIRIT OF GENEROSITY Transforming environments AD Enhancing lives Chad Leathers (CENTER), event cofounder, with other runners. continued from page 52 "We needed to stand out," he says. "There are a thousand 5k's a day, so how do we do something different? How about we take our pants off?" Chad and his friends thought it might just be crazy enough to work. "The idea was hatched mid-January 2010," Chad says. "A month after that we had 650 undie-runners in six feet of snow running around the US Capitol." In just four weeks, they raised roughly $10,000 for NF research. The event has grown exponentially since then; this year it expands into 11 new cities, Chicago among them. Steve Lorberbaum, a DC-based lawyer and triathlete, was the event's highest fundraiser last year. His 13-year-old daughter, Eliza, was diagnosed with NF1 when she was 18 months old and went through chemotherapy at the age of five. "[Fundraising] is different than the usual, 'I'm running a triathlon; will you give me money?'" Lorberbaum says. "This is, 'I'm going to be running in my underwear.'" Turns out, people will pay to see that: At press time, Lorberbaum was once again leading the pack nationally in dollars raised. Admittedly, "the weather in DC is not ridiculous," he says. "I lived in Chicago for four years, so I know what ridiculous is like. But in reality," he jokes, "the hour or so you spend in the bar before the run does make it seem less cold." And it's making an impact. On December 6, 2012, after giving a speech at the CTF Gala, and with the assistance of his brother Chad, Drew lifted himself out of the wheelchair to which he had been confined for nearly four years. "Drew talks about [a time] when he was fearful not of the next day, but of the next minute," Chad When: February 9, 2013. says. But thanks to the research efforts Doors open at noon; of the CTF, made possible by events race begins at 2:30 PM like the Undie Run, "[Drew] is now Where: Houndstooth looking into the future." Chad continSaloon, 3369 N. Clark ues, "The idea came from friends who St., 773-244-1166; are close to Drew, but our efforts [now houndstoothsaloon.com include] the entire NF community, to Cost: $30 end NF in all of its forms," he says. Info: cupidsundierun.com "Passion is contagious." MA Chicago • Harbor Country • Milwaukee PHOTOGRAPHY BY DANIEL PAGEL INSIGHT susanfredman.com 052-055_MA_SP_SpiritofGen_Winter13.indd 54 1/2/13 4:45 PM