The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

fundraising

Armonk Resident Joins fifth Annual Lustgarten Foundation NYC Pancreatic Cancer Research Walk

by

Armonk resident Debbie Heidecorn to join annual walk on Sunday April 26th to raise awareness and funds for the Lustgarten Foundation funding pancreatic cancer research.
Armonk resident Debbie Heidecorn to join annual walk on Sunday April 26th to raise awareness and funds for the Lustgarten Foundation funding pancreatic cancer research.

Armonk resident Debbie Heidecorn will join fellow New York and tri-state area residents in honor of her father by participating in The Lustgarten Foundation’s fifth annual New York City Pancreatic Cancer Research Walk. The walk will be held on Sunday, April 26, at Pier 84 in Manhattan’s Hudson River Park.

The Lustgarten Foundation is the nation’s largest private foundation dedicated to funding pancreatic cancer research. Due to Cablevision’s support of The Lustgarten Foundation, 100 percent of every dollar that Debbie and her fellow walkers raise will go directly to pancreatic cancer research.

In 2007, Debbie and her family were shocked to discover that her 84-year-old father Sidney had pancreatic cancer. A routine scan for his heart condition had revealed a shadow on his pancreas. Despite being caught at the earliest stages, they struggled to find a doctor willing to treat his condition due to his age, but eventually a successful pancreatectomy gave her father eight more years of life. To celebrate, Debbie wanted to find a way to give back, and once she found out about The Lustgarten Foundation’s New York City Walk in 2013, she immediately joined with her family as Team “Big Sid.” Sadly, her father passed away in October 2014. But Debbie and her family are passionate about returning to the walk this year to help advance research for an early detection test.

Debbie believes that participating in the walk is an uplifting way to honor her father’s memory. And for Debbie, it is also fulfilling to know that 100 percent of all money she raises goes directly to pancreatic cancer research.

“Debbie’s incredible determination is shared by the many participants who join with the Foundation to walk each year in support of raising awareness and funding for pancreatic cancer research,” said Lustgarten Foundation Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer Kerri Kaplan. “We’re all walking together in the spirit of unity and hope that with more research, we will find a cure.”

The Lustgarten Foundation’s New York City Pancreatic Cancer Research Walk at Pier 84 in Manhattan’s Hudson River Park (between 43th & 44th Street and the West Side Highway) will begin at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, April 26, with registration starting at 8:00 a.m. For more information about the walk and to register, please visit www.curePC.org.

About Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer is swift and silent, often undetected until it’s too late. The overall five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is seven percent and most with advanced cancer die within a year. There are no early detection tests, no effective long-term treatments and, unless the cancer is surgically removed in its earliest stages, no cure. It is the fourth-leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. For more information about pancreatic cancer, please visit: www.curepc.org/infographic.

About The Lustgarten Foundation

The Lustgarten Foundation is America’s largest private foundation dedicated to funding pancreatic cancer research. Based in Bethpage, New York, the Foundation supports research to find a cure for pancreatic cancer, facilitates dialogue within the medical and scientific community, and educates the public about the disease through awareness campaigns and fundraising events. The Foundation has provided millions of research dollars and assembled the best scientific minds with the hope that one day, a cure can be found. Due to the support of Cablevision Systems Corporation, a leading media and telecommunications company, 100 percent of every dollar donated to the Foundation goes directly to pancreatic cancer research. The Lustgarten Foundation and Cablevision are also partners in the curePC public awareness campaign in support of the fight against pancreatic cancer.For additional information, please visit www.curePC.org.

Consulting For A Cause: A Great CHOICE

by

Matt Daly
Matt Daly

By Matthew Daly, CFC Intern

With Valentine’s Day come and gone, we are left with memories of love lost, roses by the dozen, and heart-shaped chocolate boxes. For Paula Barbag and her Consulting For A Cause (CFC) Team, however, the spirit of love, passion, and devotion extends year round. CFC, as the firm is known within the fundraising world, has operated under the premise of care-based prosperity since its inception in 2012. Within the past twelve months, 2013’s New Business of the Year helped to spread the love within the greater Westchester area by providing vital consulting services to the organizations that need them the most.

“Consulting For A Cause has become our lifeline to new strategies and approaches.” Such are the words of Guy Fessenden, CFC’s first client. In October of 2010, Fessenden brought an end to his lucrative IT career so he could run from Savannah, Georgia to Santa Monica, California–all to raise awareness for mental illness. Fessenden now works alongside his daughter Suzanne, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 16, as the Executive Director of C.H.O.I.C.E. of New Rochelle. C.H.O.I.C.E. (Consumers Helping Others in a Caring Environment) is a nonprofit organization that provides case management, advocacy, and homeless outreach services to those afflicted with mental illness.

The two year relationship shared between CFC and C.H.O.I.C.E. has undoubtedly helped to accelerate programmatic development within the latter organization. Most recently, CFC helped to raise $20,000 for C.H.O.I.C.E. with a fundraising art exhibit hosted by internationally renowned pop artist Charles Fazzino.

The event, which featured artwork drawn by C.H.O.I.C.E. clients, served as a medium through which the isolation and loneliness felt each day by those with mentally illness could be expressed. Fessenden’s latest project, Share The Light, is a grass roots organization that hopes to dismantle the negative stigmas currently associated with mental illness in contemporary society.

Matthew Daly is a junior at William and Mary College and a graduate of Horace Greeley High School. For more information about Consulting For A Cause, visit wwwconsultingforacause.com or contact Paula Barbag at 914 238-2199.  

20 Years of Supporting our Schools: 20th Annual Benefit

by

chap-school-founationsCome and support public education in Chappaqua at the Chappaqua School Foundation’s 20th Annual Spring Benefit
 at Trump National Golf Club in Briarcliff Manor on Friday April 25 at 7 p.m.  Join your friends and neighbors for a casual evening (yes- you can wear jeans!) featuring a fabulous and informative showcase of grants in action presented by students and faculty, extensive silent auction, raffle, great food and great company.  As an added bonus, your Benefit ticket purchase also provides you with an all-access pass to Spring Madness–more than a month of discounts and special offers from a large number of participating local merchants.

The annual Spring Benefit is CSF’s biggest fundraiser. Bring your friends and be part of a special evening in support of our schools.

About CSF

The Chappaqua School Foundation was founded 20 years ago with a simple mission: to enhance the education of Chappaqua’s students by funding meaningful initiatives beyond the scope of the school budget.   Since that time, CSF has funded over 200 grants providing nearly $2 million in resources to support innovative programs spanning all curricular areas and all grade levels in all six schools. CSF continues to build a strong partnership with our school district to ensure that there are exciting possibilities for long-term innovation and improvement in teaching and learning, while also allowing our District to maintain its foundation of academic excellence. This collaboration between our school district and CSF fosters innovative projects, such as the iLab, that might not be possible elsewhere without such strong community support. CSF also remains committed to working with teachers with creative educational ideas by funding learning programs that engage our students while increasing their potential for intellectual curiosity and academic excellence and which impact your children’s learning every day.

CSF’s fundraising efforts make it possible for Chappaqua schools to continue to undertake innovative programming and to pilot new teaching tools and methods in classrooms despite the financial pressures impacting our school budget. As our District continues to wrestle with hard decisions necessitated by challenging financial times, our community needs to ensure that our schools and our students have access to cutting edge learning technology and educational innovation.  Now more than ever, CSF and the continued generosity of our community are critical to maintaining the quality of education our Chappaqua students deserve.

For a comprehensive list of CSF grants to the schools 
and more information about the Spring Benefit and 
Spring  Madness, please visit the CSF website at 
www.chappaquaschoolfoundation.org.