Bowling Green resident receives National Volunteer Award for commitment to cancer advocacy

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) - A Bowling Green woman has received a national volunteer award.

Kim Lindgren was awarded the ACT Lead of the Year by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) for her commitment to advocacy work and making cancer a national priority. She said when she first received the award, she was in shock.

“I think anyone who does this kind of volunteer work, you’re not in it for awards,” Lindgren said, “But it’s nice when you’re recognized...it’s a little bit of a validation of all the work that I’ve done on behalf of ACS CAN and even more importantly, the work does so much to help cancer patients and their families in the fight against cancer.”

The fight against cancer has been a big part of Lindgren’s life for a long time.

Losing her mom to metastatic breast cancer in April of 2012 made it even more important to her.

“Kim is a tireless advocate who speaks out on behalf of all those fighting cancer, both in her community in Kentucky and across the country,” said Lisa Lacasse, president of ACS CAN. “Her outstanding efforts are reflected in her ability to swiftly organize and mobilize a robust team of local volunteers to champion strong and effective public policy to help end cancer as we know it for everyone.”

Lindgren said the hardest part about receiving the award was not being able to tell her mother about it.

“I couldn’t pick up the phone and call my mom and say, Mom, this really great thing happened...I got this really big award,” she said.

Lindgren said, instead, she showed her mother a different way, during a ceremony called Light to Hope.

“I took this medal off and I placed it around the bag and just let her know,” she said, " That was all I could do.”

This annual award is given to a lead congressional district volunteer who has demonstrated leadership in advocating for ACS CAN’s mission priority areas of cancer-related public policy.

The award was presented on Sept. 17 as part of the annual ACS CAN Leadership Summit and Lobby Day.

Nearly 700 cancer patients, survivors and their loved ones met with their elected officials to urge them to support policies that increase funding for cancer research and prevention programs and address barriers that prevent diverse populations from enrolling in clinical trials.

Copyright 2023 WBKO. All rights reserved.