Eating a sandwich for dinner tonight can help fund blood cancer research. Potbelly’s Sandwich Works in Champaign is sponsoring a fund-raiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society this evening. The restaurant will donate half of the money it earns between 5 and 8 P-M and raffle off prizes for customers. Senior Campaign Manager for the Society’s Illinois Chapter Megan Connelly says that funds go toward blood cancer research and patient care.

“There’s different research programs locally and nationally that the Society is a part of, and there’s also different support groups, family support groups, different things that we offer cancer patients.”

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is the world’s largest national voluntary health organization for funding blood cancer research. Its mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and improve quality of life for blood cancer patients and their families. Connelly says that leukemia is not just a child’s disease.

“It is also on the rise for men and women under the ages of 35, so it is definitely something that also affects adults and should definitely be considered as a major cancer.”

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has contributed over 483 million dollars for blood cancer research since 1949.