The first annual Kirathon 2009, a community-wide walkathon to raise funds for the Kira Arney Art Therapy program at Children’s Memorial Hospital, will take place on Friday, May 29, 2009. The event will be held at Mallinckrodt Park in Wilmette from 4:30-6:30 p.m. and will include team members ranging in age from infant to adult. Kirathon was founded to honor the memory of Kira Arney, a Wilmette Junior High School student who spent over a year in and out of Children’s Memorial before she died from cancer at the age of 13.
As described by Katie Hauser, a chief organizer for the event, Kira Arney “was a fun, warm, loving 13 year old Wilmette Junior High student and daughter, sister, cousin and friend to many when she died in 2006. She grew up playing in the parks, going to the pool, sailing and swimming at the lakefront, and playing basketball, softball and soccer. One of her many passions was art.”
During Kira’s extensive treatments at Children’s Memorial Hospital, she and her family found that art therapy allowed her to express the complex emotions and feelings that are unique to critically ill children.
“Kira and our family were so touched and impacted by the incredible art therapists at Children’s Memorial Hospital. We would like to help other children who are struggling through difficult medical challenges to have the chance to express their feelings through art therapy,” said Katie Arney, mother of Kira.
Kira's Fund supports art therapy at Children's Memorial where staff coordinate therapeutic art opportunities to complement the medical care of patients and families during hospitalization. Kira’s Fund will help Children’s Memorial enhance their current level of programming and make it possible for children and their families to take part in creative art therapy. To date, Kirathon 2009 has raised more than $35,000!

Children’s Memorial Hospital, Chicago, is recognized as one of the top pediatric hospitals in the country by rankings published in U.S. News & World Report and serves as a major regional referral center. Its physicians are on the faculty at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. The hospital is currently engaged in the Heroes for Life campaign to raise a minimum of $600 million to help create the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and support its medical and nursing professionals, programs and research. As a not-for-profit organization, Children’s Memorial relies on philanthropy to help care for more than 126,000 patients and their families every year.
“Working with an art therapist brought our daughter joy as she struggled in an environment where her illness, medical procedures, pain, and hospitalization were beyond her control,” said Arney.
The idea for this community-wide event originated with Kira’s younger sibling Hannah Arney. A fifth-grader when her sister died in 2006, Hannah created a math fair project whose purpose was to analyze different fundraising options to honor her sister. Her research led her and the event organizers to create Kirathon. Hannah, now in seventh grade at Wilmette Junior High, has seen her math fair project come to life and was recently honored as a WGN Radio “Kid of the Week” for her efforts.
“I had the privilege of teaching Kira Arney three years ago and to teach Hannah now. Many of us who knew Kira were looking for a way to honor her and to benefit kids like her. I think we’ve found it,” said Eric Senne, a teacher at Wilmette Junior High.
The project has grown into a true grass-roots community event, with teams of walkers raising money through neighborhood lemonade stands, bake sales, basketball games, car washes, and more. Local schoolchildren from preschool through high school are participating first hand in fundraising efforts and in the process are making a direct impact on the lives of chronically ill children.
Entertainment at Kirathon will include an open art area where participants will create a Garden of Hope and work with professional artists to make graffiti art on a large canvas. Live musical entertainment will showcase local bands including East of Edens, New Trier’s Those Bright Lights, and Wilmette Junior High School’s Cosmic. The Kindness Connection will offer hands-on art projects benefiting local children’s hospitals. Face painting, food, and more will be provided as well.
For more information, to register, or to make a donation please visit the Kirathon website at events.org/kirathon2009.