Parish to host '5K and Pray' event to lift community member battling cancer

St. Clare of Montefalco to host Eucharistic adoration, Mass and fundraiser for former school parent Valerie Albright on Sept. 17

GROSSE POINTE PARK — Tom Vismara knows the effects of cancer, both personally and professionally, but this year he decided to do something about it spiritually and charitably.

Vismara, his wife Michelle and his parents, John and Lisa, are organizing Project Hope Michigan, an annual fundraiser, 5K run and prayer initiative to benefit a community member suffering with cancer. The "5K and Pray" event, hosted by St. Clare Montefalco Parish in Grosse Pointe Park, will take place Sept. 17, beginning with all-day Eucharistic adoration and including a 5K walk/run, Mass and dinner.

This year’s event will honor Valerie Albright, a former St. Clare secretary and former school parent, who is fighting metastatic cancer. In years past, the event has raised more than $90,000 for six families affected by cancer.

The project was started in 2014 by the family of parish member Jerry Williams, who was battling cancer at the time. His niece, Amy Fox, proposed the idea to her family to honor her uncle, but also to give hope to members of the community struggling with cancer by supporting them spiritually, socially and financially.

“After last year, the Bodein and Williams family started to get super busy, and they were looking for someone else to take over the project,” Vismara, a fourth-year medical student at Wayne State University, told Detroit Catholic. “I had heard about (Project Hope) in the spring, and I was looking for a service project that I wanted to get involved in and something that I felt strongly about. This was a perfect fit.”

Three of Vismara's four grandparents had suffered with cancer, as well as his wife, Michelle, who had been diagnosed with an ependymoma, a cancerous brain tumor. She is now cancer free.

When Vismara decided to take over the project, he consulted his wife and his parents, who were all “on board” with the decision and have been the extra set of hands he needs to make the day a success, he said.

Raised Catholic, Vismara said giving back is ingrained in his faith.

“My wife loved the community aspect of it,” Vismara said. “It’s not just about the financial support; it’s getting to know someone in need and you get to support them through faith and prayer, too. It feels a lot more personal when you can talk to the person you are trying to help. That was one of my favorite parts of the event. You are directly helping someone in your community.”

This year’s recipient, Albright, 40, brought her children Anna, 11, and twins Lilla and Josiah, 7, to attend St. Clare before the pandemic. At the time, she was working as a public defense attorney and was recovering from breast cancer. Albright decided to leave her position in 2021, when she became too weak to continue. She volunteered at St. Clare's school to be near her children and eventually became a member of the office staff.

Recently, her cancer reoccurred.

“St. Clare's (community) really just rallied around me,” Albright said. “They have prayed with me. I have never met a more dedicated community. The whole St. Clare community is invested in it. It’s love, and it’s rare, and it’s free, and it’s consistent.”

Albright said St. Clare teachers have been an integral support during her trials. While her children aren't attending St. Clare this fall, due to financial constraints and the distance from their home in Grosse Pointe Woods, Albright said that hasn’t stopped the community in their prayers and support.

“Before Fr. Andrew (Kowalczyk, CSMA) and some parishioners went to Poland (on a mission trip), they did a novena for me," Albright said. "Not being Catholic, I didn’t fully understand what that meant, but I have come to understand that and the overwhelming support.”

Albright said she tells herself, “(I'm) going to be OK because those novenas always work, and I carry that on my heart. And, on those days when it’s really quiet, I really think about that.”

Fr. Kowalczyk, who leads the St. Clare community, said every year the church and school look for a recipient to benefit from the prayers and monetary support raised by Project Hope.

“We looked at the community and considered who will be the recipient and who is the most in need,” Fr. Kowalczyk said. “We thought it was fitting for us, as a community, that (Albright) is the first recipient that is connected to the school and not the parish."

Fr. Kowalczyk said Project Hope is one way his community can see God's divine mercy at work.

“We were thinking, ‘How do we honor the mercy of God?’ in terms of acts of charity that we can offer to another human being,” he said.

John Vismara, Tom's father, said helping organize the event is a way to rally the community around someone in need, just as Christ would do.

“As we learned more about Project Hope of Michigan, we understood why Tom and Michelle are so passionate about it,” John Vismara said. “It is a great project that you can personally see how it is benefiting someone in need in our community.”

Amy Fox, who initiated Project Hope, said the idea came to her while she was attending Eucharistic adoration. At the time, she was a freshman in college.

“I was reading about taking action and not being afraid to be courageous and say 'yes' to God’s call,” Fox said. “Sometimes, we are really afraid to do what God is calling us to do because it may seem too big.”

At the time, she was trying to give courage and support to her uncle, but she saw how it transformed him knowing that people were praying for him.

“I thought, this could not be the end (of the project) after he passed away,” Fox said, adding how pleased she was to learn the Vismara family would volunteer to carry the effort, which for the previous eight years had been a family effort that included her siblings, parents and grandmother.

Participants of the event may walk, run or even bike the 5K, which begins at 9 a.m., or enter the church to take part in adoration. Participants can still register to take part up to the day of the event, Sept. 17.

“We need help financially, in addition to runners, and especially with prayers,” Tom Vismara added.

Fr. Kowalczyk reiterated the need for participation, even if someone isn't able to walk or run, adding the altar will be surrounded by candles as people offer their prayers for Albright and her family.

“Some people don’t offer anything other than prayer,” Fr. Kowalczyk said. “Some can offer something for dinner, and some people can’t walk but they donate to the recipient.”

To register or donate, visit www.projecthopeofmichigan.com.