By Sarah Hall
Editor
Before Vice President Joe Biden leaves office on Jan. 21, Erin Engle hopes he’ll agree to one more act of public service.
Engle, who founded Griffin’s Guardians in memory of her son Griffin, has started a letter campaign to Biden In hopes of getting him to speak at the pediatric cancer charity’s third annual Gold Tie Gala Sept. 30 at the Marriott Syracuse Downtown (the former Hotel Syracuse).
Engle, of Cicero, said she had originally written to President Barack Obama when Griffin passed away in September of 2014.
“I was asking that he advocate for the children and [telling him] that [the] 4 percent of our national budget that is allocated to all of the different types of pediatric cancer research is not enough,” Engle said. “To my surprise, six months later, I received certified mail from President Obama. He wrote me a letter and he sent me the National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month proclamation [pictured].”
Having gotten a personal response from the president, Engle was encouraged, and, when considering a speaker for the second annual gala in 2016, very early on, she began considering Biden.
“He lost his son Beau to brain cancer,” Engle said. “Although Beau was an adult when he passed to brain cancer, [the vice president] was still a parent who lost a child. I felt a connection with him when he spoke of Beau, when he spoke of his heartache, and when he spoke of his determination to make cancer a curable disease.”
She started writing to Biden in 2015, telling him about Griffin — his diagnosis in 2013, his fight, his spirit, his ultimate deterioration and time in hospice, his passing at the age of 7. She asked him if he would consider speaking at the gala.
But she got no response.
“It is my understanding that the VP is very good at communicating with supporters, so I always felt like my letter wasn’t reaching his hands personally,” Engle said. “That is when I realized I was approaching this all wrong. This was something I couldn’t possibly do on my own.”
Engle said that journey she described to Biden — from diagnosis to loss and eventually to the creation of Griffin’s Guardians — would not have been possible without the support of others.
“We have survived because of how our friends, families and complete strangers have embraced us,” she said. “We have survived because everywhere we turn someone is advocating for childhood cancer awareness, someone is raising my family up and someone is helping us to carry out Griffin’s legacy. I needed to ask those same people to help me reach the vice president.”
So she put out the word through Griffin’s Guardians’ social media—and the response has been astounding.
“I would have to say thousands of letters have been sent from others directly,” she said.
Among the groups to send letters themselves was the entire third grade at Cicero Elementary, where Griffin would be enrolled now. Griffin’s former kindergarten teachers, who had just retired, took it upon themselves to speak to the students about Griffin’s Guardians and why it was important to them, then had the students decorate and sign the letters. Mary Beth Moulton’s second-graders at Owasco Elementary in Auburn also participated.
“The letter campaign is a awesome way to get the children involved, not only raising awareness for Griffin’s Guardians but teaching compassion for others and teaching all the good that happens when people come together,” Engle said.
Engle said Biden would be an ideal speaker for Griffin’s Guardians. Biden has said he will dedicate the rest of his political career to cancer research. He is the head of the so-called “Cancer Moonshot,” an initiative launched by the Obama administration that pledges federal funding to facilitate collaboration among researchers, make more therapies available to patients, increase preventative education and early detection efforts and more. The Moonshot aims to significantly cut cancer rates in the U.S. by 2020. Engle is hoping the letter campaign can also earn Griffin’s Guardians a place in the campaign.
“The Cancer Moonshot initiative is not only a powerful initiative, it is long overdue,” she said. “It is time to fight cancer head on, especially against pediatric cancer. These children are our future.”
That’s why Engle said she can’t ever give up the fight, even for something as seemingly unreachable as getting the vice president to speak at the gala.
“I feel it’s my obligation and Griffin’s Guardians obligation to do whatever it takes to be successful, to reach more supporters, inspire more because in return we will be able to help more,” she said. “Tragedy struck our family, but daily we are reminded there is so much good in this world. We must all just dig deep to not only be that good but to have the ability to recognize it. I thank Griffin every day for helping me see that good.”
To print a copy of the letter, visit griffinsguardians.org/vp-biden.html. Draw the Griffin’s Guardians logo on the letter and the envelope and mail to:
The White House
Vice President Joe Biden
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
