Illini 4000, a Champaign-Urbana nonprofit and RSO that shares stories of people’s cancer experiences, presented the Portraits Project at the Gallery Art Bar on Thursday.
The gallery displayed 11 portraits of American cancer patients, featuring quotes of them recounting living with the disease. The gallery also played several interviews that I4K conducted with patients across the United States on a projector.
Members of I4K collected 72 cancer patients’ stories for this year’s Portraits Project during its annual cross-country bike ride.
The RSO was founded in 2006 by Jon Schlesinger and Anish Thakkar, two University students who met biking in Singapore while studying abroad. When the pair came back to the University, they created I4K and recruited students on and off campus through the Adventure Cycling Association. The RSO has collected over 450 interviews for its Portraits Project since its founding.
Today, I4K hosts cross-country rides each year and has raised and donated over $1 million to its beneficiaries. The beneficiaries include the Cancer Center at Illinois, Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation and the Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation.
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Riddhima Patllollu, junior in Information Sciences and co-president and marketing director of I4K, has been involved in the RSO since her freshman year. Patllollu said she planned the logistics of the gallery and spent days setting up the supplies prior to the event.
“It definitely took up a good amount of my time,” Patllollu said. “It was a passion project, so it wasn’t a source of frustration, but a source of joy. I’m very glad to see how it turned out.”
Patllollu discussed how she was interested in joining I4K since her senior year of high school, due to her love for biking and desire to work for a good cause. She said being a part of I4K has taught her to listen to other people’s stories without judgment.
“On social media, (people) make rapid judgments based off of a 10-second clip,” Patllollu said. “With a Portraits Project, you’re just sitting down with a group of friends and listening to a stranger who eventually becomes someone you know because they tell you such a vulnerable story.”
I4K has 13 RSO members lined up for its upcoming 19th annual bike ride from May to August. The bikers will make stops at locations like Chicago, Lincoln, Nebraska, Glenwood Springs, Colorado and Redding, California.
One of the bikers, Ren Goodfriend, freshman in Engineering, found out about I4K on Quad Day and previously participated in cross-country bike rides with The Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa.
Goodfriend said joining I4K has changed how she approaches discussing cancer, given that several of her family members have dealt with the disease.
“I feel like (I4K) has really changed my thought process around (discussing cancer),” Goodfriend said. “It helps people express what they’re feeling and learn about experiences instead of refusing to acknowledge that it’s happening.”
Another I4K member who plans to participate in the upcoming bike ride is Max Zhu, senior in Engineering. Zhu got accepted as a rider in the fall and has since been training for his first cross-country cycle.
“I just got my bike two weeks ago,” Zhu said. “It was my first time riding a road bike, and I went on my first longer ride today, so that was a lot of fun.”
Being involved in I4K has not only impacted the members’ talking about sensitive topics like cancer, but also the team’s understanding of community.
Goodfriend spoke about how I4K has impacted that aspect of her life since coming to the University.
“(I4K) is just a wonderful community of people,” Goodfriend said. “It’s people who I feel really close with, especially as a freshman. It’s very hard to form social circles when you’re going to college for the first time, but (I4K) has really been there for me. Everyone’s been incredibly supportive as we fundraise and train together.”
