October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and it is the month when Dance for the Cure normally holds its annual fundraising event, Ribbons of Hope. This year, our event was canceled due to the Coronavirus pandemic, however, women in our local communities who are battling breast cancer still needed our help, so we had to find a way to raise money even without our primary event. We set a goal of raising $50,000 dollars which we felt would be achievable by running small-scale events and virtual fundraisers and by partnering with individuals, entrepreneurs and small businesses in our area.
We are pleased to report that we not only reached our goal but we also raised it several times ending our October fundraising efforts at $75,000! One large donation that helped push us over our goal is the $20,000 donation from the Tepper Foundation. By the end of December we had reached our new goal of $80,000 and have now raised our goal again—this time to $90,000! Given that Dance for the Cure's fiscal year is October to November, we are confident that we will reach this new goal and possibly exceed it again.
With the money we receive through fundraising, we work alongside local healthcare organizations and social workers to distribute monetary gifts to women who are struggling due to a breast cancer diagnosis. We have helped hundreds of women over the years, and this year we expect to help even more. Each woman we have helped is represented by a ribbon on the map below, and we'll be adding 40 to 50 more ribbons this year. Monetary gifts are used by our recipients for childcare, food, transportation, rent, medical bills, medicine and more. It eases their stress and allows them to breathe a little easier.
None of this would be possible without the help of our tireless volunteers. Our organization is 100% run by volunteers. No one takes a salary so all monies raised go directly to help those in need. Some of our volunteers ran fundraisers of their own, or partnered with other organizations to raise money which they donated to DFC. We are thankful that we have such a wonderful volunteer staff and grateful for their efforts!
We hope that the pandemic will be under control next October and that we can once again return to having our annual event, so please hold the date and we'll keep you posted!
For more info, please contact Kathleen Cirioli or Joanne Liscovitz.