Our Mission & Vision
Our Mission & Vision
Our mission is to educate and equip others to not survive their life, but thrive. We believe the combination of a plant-based lifestyle, physical exercise, and forming a positive mindset will enhance your well-being to greater heights than you could ever expect.
There are three parts to our vision:
Raise nutritional, holistic awareness for medicinal purposes with the sole intent to comfort, soothe, calm, and educate.
Provide health and wellness education and support with a focus on living a plant-based lifestyle for healing.
Sponsor end-stage patients and their families for a free stay at a Maui comfort retreat.
Cheri’s Story
Cheri was a teacher. That’s the highest compliment I can pay someone. She taught us all so much. She was a peer educator, a teacher of women of all ages and races. She taught me about the pleasure--and pain--of having a teenage son. She taught the Evanston school board a thing or two.
Cheri was a teacher. That’s the highest compliment I can pay someone. She taught us all so much. She was a peer educator, a teacher of women of all ages and races. She taught me about the pleasure--and pain--of having a teenage son. She taught the Evanston school board a thing or two.
In 1987, activist Cheri Evans discovered her HIV+ status while heading up the blood drive for her school’s PTA. Known for her compassion for friends, family, and members of her community, she continued in the same spirit even after this discovery. Her diagnosis served as the drive for the work she took on over the next seven years of her life.
Cheri was a volunteer peer educator for The Cook County Women and Children with HIV program. She was a leader of BEHIV as well as a co-chair of the Evanston/Skokie PTA Council HIV Education Task Force. As part of the task force, she taught the Evanston school board, as well as teachers, administrators, and parents about the urgent need to educate children on HIV and AIDS, as well as the growing risk of transmission through sexual activities.
On September 13, 1993, Cheri passed away at the age of 35. She is remembered as a teacher, activist, and a woman of generous spirit, all of which continues to live on through her son D. Anthony Evans.
In 1987, activist Cheri Evans discovered her HIV+ status while heading up the blood drive for her school’s PTA. Known for her compassion for friends, family, and members of her community, she continued in the same spirit even after this discovery. Her diagnosis served as the drive for the work she took on over the next seven years of her life.
Cheri was a volunteer peer educator for The Cook County Women and Children with HIV program. She was a leader of BEHIV as well as a co-chair of the Evanston/Skokie PTA Council HIV Education Task Force. As part of the task force, she taught the Evanston school board, as well as teachers, administrators, and parents about the urgent need to educate children on HIV and AIDS, as well as the growing risk of transmission through sexual activities.
On September 13, 1993, Cheri passed away at the age of 35. She is remembered as a teacher, activist, and a woman of generous spirit, all of which continues to live on through her son D. Anthony Evans.
D. Anthony’s Story
Everything is possible for everybody and I’m the proof.
Everything is possible for everybody and I’m the proof.
At the age of six years old, D. Anthony Evans was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis–a rare condition where tumors grow on nerve tissue without any notice. Doctors believed he would be blind by the time he was eighteen and would develop far slower than his peers. D. Anthony has had hundreds of tumors removed from his body, in the years since his initial diagnosis, including a two pound tumor located on his back.
Within the NF community, D. Anthony noticed that while there were survivors, there didn’t seem to be many “thrivers.” In his own words, “The cancer in me is not gone; we’ve just made an agreement. I’m not going to put anything in my body to irritate it and it’s going to allow me to look like this [a lack of visible tumors] and thrive and live my life.” Wanting to thrive–as in, making the most of life–D. Anthony opted to not take up chemotherapy for his recovery. Instead, he adopted a whole food, purely plant-based lifestyle.
“The only reason I’m here today is my new mindset,” he says. “I removed all negative people, places, and things from my space, my fitness, which is training to live, which is a mind-set as well.” Adopting a plant-based lifestyle, a regular fitness routine, and a positive mindset are what D. Anthony credits his success of surviving and thriving beyond his medical diagnoses.
At the age of six years old, D. Anthony Evans was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis–a rare condition where tumors grow on nerve tissue without any notice. Doctors believed he would be blind by the time he was eighteen and would develop far slower than his peers. D. Anthony has had hundreds of tumors removed from his body, in the years since his initial diagnosis, including a two pound tumor located on his back.
Within the NF community, D. Anthony noticed that while there were survivors, there didn’t seem to be many “thrivers.” In his own words, “The cancer in me is not gone; we’ve just made an agreement. I’m not going to put anything in my body to irritate it and it’s going to allow me to look like this [a lack of visible tumors] and thrive and live my life.” Wanting to thrive–as in, making the most of life–D. Anthony opted to not take up chemotherapy for his recovery. Instead, he adopted a whole food, purely plant-based lifestyle.
“The only reason I’m here today is my new mindset,” he says. “I removed all negative people, places, and things from my space, my fitness, which is training to live, which is a mind-set as well.” Adopting a plant-based lifestyle, a regular fitness routine, and a positive mindset are what D. Anthony credits his success of surviving and thriving beyond his medical diagnoses.
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