My husband, Kirk, and I recently received an invitation to attend a very special event. This was a private fundraiser titled “Pathway To The Cure”, with a tagline, “Making a pathway to a world free of breast cancer”.
It was evident throughout the evening that every one in attendance understood the importance of their support and contribution to this endeavor. I had the feeling that if I were to walk around and ask each person about why they were there, each would have a very personal story as each of us do.
By now, I am sure that you have figured out if you read my regular postings that I see the world in a different way than most people and my sharing of this event is no different. So when the invitation was extended to us to join this affair from Susan G. Komen by way of an invitation from Betty Wolf, Vice President of Development and Tracy Mueller, Manager of Digital Marketing, both of whom we had a chance to meet and talk with while in DC a few weeks ago, we were there. I know that I sure wanted to know what was happening in our area that would bring these special people to our city.
While Kirk did a lot of tweeting at the event, I found myself in my usual mode of observation. The event was held at a beautifully decorated hangar at the Santa Monica airport and the approximately 250 attendees included some of Hollywood’s finest. The evening featured DJ’s Zen Freeman and Nikki Pennie and, additionally, Kesha treated us all with a special performance. But, despite the party atmosphere, no one lost sight of the real reason for being there.
Dr. Judy Salerno, CEO of Komen shared with us that earlier in the day a new program had been introduced that aims to lower breast cancer in African American women who are more likely to die from the disease than Caucasian women in Los Angeles and nationwide. This part of the story is shared by this NBC Los Angeles news story.
Of course, after our trip to DC and meeting the DC Pink Divas, I was ecstatic to hear about this. It was my hope that a program similar to theirs would be started in our area and now it was becoming a reality. This is part of Dr. Salerno’s agenda that is to assist women in getting care that currently may not be doing so because of social, cultural, financial and geographic barriers. Now this will be part of the new two-year initiative titled “Circle of Promise” that will cover the State of California.
Another great part of the evening came from our hosts. From Pathway Genomics, it was announced that they are partnering with Komen and in addition to cash donations, they will provide genetic testing to women in need at no charge. This is fantastic news as we all know how expensive the testing for the BRCA 1 and BRAC 2 genes has been for those with a predisposition to breast cancer due to these hereditary factors. Then, our host from Relativity Media did an on-the-spot fundraiser that he started by pledging a donation of $150,000 if the guests matched it by contributing another $150,000. I did not hear the final tally but from what I saw from those who immediately raised their hands to contribute, I am pretty sure that Komen did receive a total of $300,000 at the end of the evening as money was still being collected as we departed about an hour after the challenge had been issued.
I must say that I was most struck by the fact that one would never have realized that this was a venue full of high-powered Hollywood elite if they were to come upon this event. There were no egos in that space. It was evident throughout the evening that every one in attendance understood the importance of their support and contribution to this endeavor. I had the feeling that if I were to walk around and ask each person about why they were there, each would have a very personal story as each of us do. So, I want to extend a personal thank you to every person who contributed to the success of this event in any way, to Pathway Genomics, to Relativity Media and to Susan G. Komen on behalf of every single woman who will benefit from the work that you are doing. You are appreciated more than you could possible know.
Barbara Jacoby is an award winning blogger that has contributed her writings to multiple online publications that have touched readers worldwide.