more than a dollop

would be possible. Inspired by the progress, she did a deep dive into supplementing oncology treatment with integrative therapies. Keen soon learned that all of the treatments she had access to needed more awareness and were especially difficult to obtain for under-resourced and underinsured patients.

So, for her sixth cancer-versary, Keen launched Roots & Wings, a charitable foundation that raises funds for the MBC community to provide complimentary appointments with integrative therapists at established institutions and wellness centers throughout the country. Now in operation for two years, Roots & Wings supports programs at Rush University Cancer Center in Chicago, Duke Cancer Center in North Carolina, and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, where they’ve already helped reach thousands of MBC patients.

Keen and her team of volunteers are selective about Roots & Wings’ partners, choosing programs that are leaders in MBC patient care and offer integrative services. The goal is to be in major institutions across the country and increase the number of Roots & Wings’ partnerships and programs.

“All it takes is $100 for one appointment, and one appointment can change someone’s life—it changed mine,” says Keen. “I’m living proof that it works because I’m still here eight years later. Part of that, of course, is my wonderful oncology team, but the other part is my integrative team and practice. I don’t have a lot of days where I’m overburdened thanks to a community of practitioners I’ve been working with for years. Where the burden comes from is wanting to give more and wanting to do more.”

In October 2020, just seven weeks after officially launching, Roots & Wings announced its first gift of 100 complimentary oncology massage or acupuncture appointments for MBC patients at Rush University Cancer Center. That same year, Roots & Wings hosted its first annual Move IV MBC event. The idea is to move four miles—in any way you can—to raise both awareness and funds for MBC.

“There have been times when I could crawl four miles but definitely not run,” says Keen. “I don’t care how it happens—you can even drive if you want—so long as people are moving in tribute to the MBC community. Many patients are unable to move freely because of metastatic spread within the body. We move in recognition of their hardship and to honor our own health.” In 2021, Roots & Wings had over 500 participants from coastto-coast and even beyond borders in four other countries participating in Move IV MBC. Roots & Wings hosts the event the Sunday before Keen’s cancer-versary and recently celebrated the second annual Move IV MBC in August. Proceeds help support the growth of current programs and future Roots & Wings initiatives.

“When you’re a metastatic breast cancer patient, you have to fight for more time,” says Keen. “You have to make a choice to go through this journey just to have bonus days. There are lots of people giving money to research, which is incredibly important, but until there’s a cure, integrative therapy can help make those days the best they can be. Most people don’t realize MBC is incurable and that you may be in treatment every day. When I’m asked when treatment will be over, it’s so hard to say ‘never.’”

Even though Keen says that running Roots & Wings takes away from her available time, she also says that it fills her days with purpose. She has received messages directly from patients who have benefitted from integrative therapy, like one who could finally move their hands again after a series of acupuncture sessions and another who found healing through MBC group therapy.

“I never thought I’d be running a nonprofit, but life surprises you in both good ways and bad,” says Keen, who was formerly an interior architect and designer. “The feedback is so affirming that I’m doing the right thing with the time I have now, and all I wish is that I could do more. I want this for everybody—without financial burden or limitation—because of the difference it’s made for me.”

The Roots & Wings Team for Move IV MBC. Photography by Kat Rosenburg

For more information and to make a donation, visit rootswingsfoundation.org.

The man behind Hoosier Mama Pie has brought the next level of his Dollop coffee empire to the Albion building Evanston.

It’s not unusual for a store to add a coffee bar but what North Shore native Dan Weiss did with his Dollop General Store & Café is next level.

The innovative concept—unveiled earlier this year in the Albion building in downtown Evanston—offers the stellar Dollop coffee and housemade pastry service, but with a twist.

Guests at the Dollop General Store are also able to shop for household necessities and favorites such as beer and wine, local Ice cream pints, breakfast cereals, snacks, everyday pantry items, and more.

“We were excited to bring this to this area of Evanston, which lacks an accessible grocery store,” says Weiss, who also brought the Dollop coffee and Hoosier Mama Pie concept to Evanston nearly a decade ago.

The 20th location in Weiss's Dollop family, the new concept marries an old-fashioned general store with Dollop’s signature coffee bar, pastries, and donuts—featuring such new specialty coffee/ tea drinks as the Orange Creamsicle Cold Brew (cold brew, orange zest, oat milk, and vanilla), Blue Milk Latte (vanilla mint, cold brewed pea flower tea, cold foam oat milk), and a refreshing Strawberry Lemongrass Matcha (strawberry lemon grass blend, matcha tea, and oat milk).

Weiss, a graduate of Roycemore Prep High School, was a regular at several extinct, classic Evanston cafes such as Cafe Express, Cafe Ambiance, and Potion Liquid Lounge. Dollop General Store & Café captures some of that café nostalgia which also providing a needed resource to this area of Evanston.

“I spent a lot of time in Evanston and a teenager and young adult and have really dreamed of bringing something unique and needed to this community,” he says.

Dollop General Store & Café is located at 1508 Sherman Avenue in the Albion Evanston building. For more information, call 224307-2163 or visit dollopcoffee.com/locations/ general-store-cafe-location.