HERS Newsletter - November updates

HERS Breast Cancer Foundation

November 2018 Newsletter

Happy Thanksgiving!

~ We are so thankful for you ~

We cannot do the important work we do without the enthusiastic, steadfast support of our community -- sponsors, volunteers, participants, and donors! Thank you for the gift of your time, money, and attention.

Both the Walk/Run and Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM) were hugely successful this year. Please see the event web site for a list of Walk/Run sponsors. We've included BCAM highlights and thank-yous in this newsletter (see below).

Time and time again, our dedicated supporters come through for us -- words cannot express our appreciation.

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Have you seen the photos from the Walk/Run?

The talented Ramil Sumalpong of Iconic Lab does a fantastic job of capturing our special fundraising events. Check out the album of amazing photos he shot at this year's Walk/Run. Take a look and enjoy the memories of a beautiful day!

Now get out there and enjoy the holiday! W e wish you health and happiness -- and time to relax with family and friends.

Look for HERS in the

SJ Mercury WishBook!

Starting on Thanksgiving Day, the San Jose Mercury News Wish Book is featuring stories about the specific needs and wishes of local individuals, families and organizations. The Mercury encourages their readers to make charitable donations to fulfill those needs. The generous people of the Bay Area raised more than $500,000 last year to help our community.

HERS is grateful to be one of the organizations included in the Wish Book this year. HERS' inspiring and touching story features one of our clients, Teresita Nava, and is scheduled to run in the paper on November 27. To donate or learn more, visit the WishBook - and feel free to share!

We've set our fundraising goal for $10,000. This amount will fund post-treatment necessities for 25 women -- three specialty bras and one prosthesis each. We're thankful to the Mercury and our community for supporting our mission: providing Hope, Empowerment, Renewal, and Support to breast cancer survivors, regardless of their financial status.

Advocacy in Action

HERS is fortunate to have Kirstin Litz on our board. We keep her busy! This year, she chaired both of our major fundraisers and attended many BCAM events. She is also actively involved in breast cancer advocacy work, and frequently travels to conferences to further her education, spread the word about HERS, and connect with fellow advocates.

In October, Kirstin made a whirlwind trip to Chicago to join her friend and fellow advocate Terri on a panel about Shared Decision Making, an initiative to empower patients to participate more fully in their treatment planning. The panel was part of the annual conference of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

Kirstin summed up her experience for us:

"The panel consisted of two plastic surgeons, Dr. Minas Chrysopoulo and Dr. Hani Sbitany, and two patient advocates, Terri Coutee of DiepCFoundation and myself. This is only the second time that patient advocates have been invited to speak at the conference. Shared decision making is something we should all practice when visiting doctors no matter what the reason.

Our panel was part of the educational programs; doctors can get educational credit for watching the video (you can watch it too!). The remainder of Monday I spent attending sessions. The two that really spoke to me were on current lymphedema treatments and anaplastic large-cell lymphoma ( ALCL).

Sixty hours after I left home, I returned with new information, new friends, and new goals. Yes, I would do it all again."

Thank you for an

Outstanding October!

HERS staff, board members, and volunteers stayed very busy all month attending events and educating the community about HERS services for breast cancer survivors.

With the hard work and generous support of our entire community, we raised nearly $60,000 in October and we aren't done yet! We hope you've been keeping up with all the fun on our Facebook page .

We are deeply grateful to all the businesses, organizations, and individuals that made this year's BCAM such a huge success. We are overwhelmed by all that you do to support breast cancer survivors!

Breast Cancer Awareness Month Highlights:

Pacific West Gymnastics' big fundraising efforts have reached $20,000!!! Owner Evelyn Paradis, Manager Christopher Perkins, and their staff worked really hard to raised funds for HERS.

Their event, Barb's Pink Party, is lots of fun for the whole family and we hope you'll join us next year!

The Hayward Police Department is one of six Bay Area law enforcement agencies to participate in #PinkPatchProject fundraising to benefit HERS. We just received their donation check for $6,430! Thank you, Hayward PD!

Last but not least, a shout out to Premier Subaru of Fremont and Premier Nissan of Fremont. Not only are they parking and timing sponsors for our Walk/Run and the donors of our goodie bags -- for every car sold during the month of September, they donated $25 to HERS! Many thanks to the dealerships' Hope Coordinator, Stephanie Sullivan. She's a huge advocate for HERS. The dealership supports many local nonprofits and we're so lucky to be one of them.

Here's a roundup of our

BCAM Fundraisers to date:

Alameda Police Department
Alameda County Sheriffs Department
Auburn Lounge
Barb's Pink Party/Pacific West Gymnastics
Brighton Collectables (Valley Fair Shopping Center)
Car Show - Joe Alalay/Team District 10
Castlewood Country Club
Castillo Dentistry
CBS Interactive (San Francisco)
Clorox (Pleasanton)
Color Me Mine Pleasanton
Das Brew (Fremont)
Digitas (San Francisco)
Dublin Police Department
Edge Salon (Palo Alto)
Family Medical Associates of SJ, Staff (Stanford Hospital)
FAZ Restaurant (Palo Alto)
FH Dailey Chevrolet (San Leandro)
Fremont Police Department
Hayward Police Department
Henifitness Cali Baes Dance Group (Fremont)
HERS Open House Donors
Holy Names High School (Oakland)
Holy Spirit School (Fremont)
Jack's Bar & Grill (Fremont)
Kendra Scott Jewelry (Santana Row)
Mind Body Zone (Fremont)
Nina's Fashion (Daly City)
Oakland Housing Authority Police Department)
Panera (Fremont/Mowry Avenue)
PG&E Campaign for the Community
Pink Pallet Project (Raymond Handling Concepts Corp.)
Premier Nissan of Fremon
Premier Subaru of Fremont
Rebecca Lalwani/Becca's Boutique
Red Robin (Pleasanton)
Rigatoni's Red Smoke Gril (Pleasanton)
Rita's Italian Ice (Fremont)
Roadside Rotisserie Country Grill (Oakland)
Sugarfina (Santana Row)
The Counter (Fremont)
TriNet Employees
Betty Tsang

Now you know why

we can't stop saying THANK YOU!

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We want to extend a special thanks to our hard-working staff at HERS. Along with a handful of volunteers, they handled the busy BCAM schedule with grace and gratitude. We ask a lot of them, and they always come through. Not to mention, they know how to throw a party! We are so grateful for all they do throughout the year, and we know our clients are, too!