Three Creative Fundraising Events Raise More Than $16,000 For Cure Breast Cancer Foundation In September

The Cure Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF) rolled into October’s Breast Cancer Awareness month full steam ahead with three late September events that raised more than  $16,000 to support breast cancer research and the work of Dr. Larry Norton and colleagues at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and other national and international research facilities.

The well-attended events illustrate the diverse and creative opportunities the non-profit 501 (c) 3 organization holds throughout the year to allow donors to not only assist its efforts, but also participate in fun-filled activities geared towards personal interests.  The September fundraising efforts included:

.  The 6th annual Salons For The Cure Walk-A-Thon was held on Sunday, Sept. 29th at Verona Park in Verona, NJ.  Nine local salons participated in the event which raised nearly $9,000.

. On Saturday, September 28th Flywheel Sports located at 210 East 67th Street in New York City hosted “Fight. Fly. Cure.,” a special session of the indoor cycling experience which delivers a high-cardio intensive workout. 100% of the $4,000 raised for the class was donated to CBCF.

. Theory, the popular men's and women's contemporary clothing retailer, hosted a special night of private shopping, cocktails and hors d’oeuvres at its location at 40 Gansevoort Street in New York City on September 19th.  The event – where shoppers received 25% off purchases – was the most successful event held by CBCF in conjunction with a retailer, reaching nearly $32,000 in sales with 10% donated back; more than $3,100 was donated to CBCF.

“While October certainly highlights our calendar of events, our goal is to conduct several fundraisers throughout the year in order to encourage donations and increase support of Dr. Norton’s important research,” notes Andrew Abramson, Treasurer and Co-Founder of CBCF.  “To keep our donors and volunteers engaged, we’ve established a roster of innovative events that extends well beyond the traditional walk-a-thons, runs and raffles and now includes a variety of activities that appeal to different personal interests.  This has allowed us to tap into the large pool of people eager to support CBCF in different ways.”

The success of the Clifton, N.J.-based CBCF’s 2013 events has fueled the total of money raised to over $4.5 million since its inception in December 2007.  Fully 100% of its net fundraising proceeds received by the foundation are donated to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan and other national and international cancer research facilities to support the research being conducted under the direction of Dr. Norton and his colleagues.  

Dr. Norton's research focuses on the theory of breast cancer “self seeding”: the ability of breast cancer cells to move and start new cancers growing, not only in distant organs like the bones and liver (called metastases), but in the breast itself.  This behavior is referred to as “self seeding” as it recalls the way weeds take over a garden: not by the growth of each individual weed plant, but by the seeding of new weed plants that grow in a confluent fashion.  By this concept, breast cancer is not one mass, but rather a collection of contiguous smaller masses.

This method of growth is indeed true in certain experimental models and research is ongoing to prove that it happens in people as well.  It explains many aspects of cancer: rapid growth, disorganization, formation of new blood vessels, need to irradiate a breast after lumpectomy for cancer and the association of all of the above with distant metastases.  If correct, it will provide new targets for the development of drugs to treat and prevent cancer.  Since “seeding” is an abnormal process—as opposed to the normal process of mitosis—such drugs may not only be more effective, but less toxic as well.  Hence, the concept of self-seeding is not only interesting from the point of view of biology, but possibly very important in the design of better approaches to cancer management and prevention, as well as in finding a cure.

For more information on the CBCF, please call (973) 471-CBCF (2223) or visit http://www.curebreastcancerfoundation.org/.

Cure Breast Cancer Foundation

The Cure Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF) is a Clifton, N.J. – based not-for-profit 501(c) 3 charity devoted to fund research on the growth and spreading of breast cancer cells, also known as the Self-Seeding Theory, at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan and other national and international cancer research facilities under the direction of Dr. Larry Norton, who serves as the Foundation’s Scientific Advisor.  The founder and president is Carly Abramson.  Her father, Andrew Abramson, is Treasurer.  For more information, call (973) 471-CBCF (2223), e-mail info@curebreastcancerfoundation.org or visit http://www.curebreastcancerfoundation.org/.