By Erin Pedrini
Web Production Assistant
Heather said that when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, her sister, Carly Abramson, sold key rings at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and she raised over $10,000. Carly then founded CBCF in 2007 with the help of her father, Co-Founder Andrew Abramson. Since CBCF was founded, the organization has donated over $5 million to research.
“The main mission is to find a cure and not just for breast cancer. It’s for cancer because the things that we are researching apply to colon cancer, bladder cancer and a host of that class of cancer which are solid tumors. So what we are doing could have an impact on almost anything,” said Andrew.
What sets CBCF apart from other breast cancer foundations is that the money that CBCF raises goes directly to funding research projects that are under the direction of noted oncologist Dr. Larry Norton at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. The research projects focus on the Self-Seeding Program, which is a theory that provides new insight into how breast cancer grows and spreads.
What also makes CBCF research funds unique, Andrew said, is, “We are letting the doctors and researchers who we think are the geniuses ‘ride their horse’ and if they need to go left or right, we let them. If you have a typical health grant or specific grant, they have one idea and if the researchers get halfway through the research and it’s worthless, they have a choice to either waste the money or return it. What we want them to do is if they go down a path and all of a sudden they see something that is more exciting, take that path. The funds are unrestricted as long as they stay within the area that we are interested in that they have suggested.”
Heather said that not only is CBCF supporting research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, they are also supporting international research in Israel. Andrew said that CBCF had sponsored an International Breast Cancer Symposium in Israel this year, which was a one-day meeting. He said that they got to meet some the doctors who they are sponsoring projects for. “To meet the researchers who are involved in it and see how excited they are about what they are able to accomplish because of us is very rewarding,” said Andrew.
Heather said that the most rewarding part of her involvement with CBCF is, “Just seeing how far we have come and seeing how much our research is actually making a difference. And at least for me, to see my friends get involved and have such a passion for what we do and really want to raise as much money as they can and get the awareness out there. We know so many people affected by breast cancer, my mom and some friends, and to see them never be affected again, and their kids and grandkids and hopefully find a cure. To see it from when we were founded to now, you can really see the progress that we have made.”
“It’s really just the excitement and the fact that we have developed a very supportive core group of people. I think it’s the people who feel that we are on the right track and will contribute something to society as a whole, is the driving force,” said Andrew.
Since CBCF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, the foundation hosts many fundraisers throughout the year. The largest fundraiser that CBCF hosts every year is a golf outing in June that raises in excess of $500,000 just on that day, said Andrew.
The Colts Neck PBA will also be hosting an event for CBCF this year, Race for CBCF, on Sunday, Oct. 5 at 105 Bucks Mill Road in Colts Neck. The 5K race/two-mile walk will begin at 8 a.m. and the registration fee is $25.
There is also going to be a celebratory dinner at Bloomingdales in Short Hills called Support CBCF in Style on Thursday, Oct. 23. The event will include a holiday preview fashion presentation followed by a panel discussion that will include Dr. Elizabeth Comen from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Dr. Natalie Cekleniak from St. Barnabas, Event Chair Leah Feldman and Founder of 5 under 40 Jennifer Finkelstein. In addition to the event, the store will be donating 10 percent of group sales from Friday, Oct. 24 to CBCF.
Theory, located at 40 Gansevoort St. in New York City, is hosting Shop for a Cure on Thursday, Oct. 9 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. in which shoppers will receive 25 percent off of their purchases and 15 percent of all sales from the event will be donated to CBCF. Also, Pure City Cycles has introduced a new bike with the CBCF logo on it and $100 of every CBCF bike sold in the month of October will be donated to CBCF. Bikes can be purchased here.
Lastly, CBCF is holding its annual Lease for a Cure, which gets the real estate industry involved in fundraising because Andrew is president and CEO of Value Companies. Andrew said that property owners donate an amount for every lease they sign in October and this year tenants will have the opportunity to makes a donation with their rent payments in October.
Registration for any of these events can be completed here. For more information about CBCF and its events, visit the CBCF website or the CBCF Facebook page.