By Shavana Abruzzo
Nearly 100,000 New Yorkers raised $5.27 million for the American Cancer Society in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk last year, bringing us one step closer to finding a cure.
Walk 2016 on Oct. 16 at open spaces in all five boroughs offers another chance to boost the odds:
• Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Promenade of Industry and Universe Court, in Queens; registration at 8 am.
• Prospect Park at The Nethermead, Lincoln Road and Ocean Avenue in Brooklyn; registration at 8 am.
• Central Park at 72nd Street Bandshell, E. 72nd Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan; registration at 7 am.
• Orchard Beach, One Orchard Beach Road in the Bronx; registration at 8 am.
• Midland Beach, 829 Father Capodanno Blvd. on Staten Island; registration at 9 am.
The annual walk funds breast cancer research, offers free patient-caregiver services, provides in-depth cancer information, and supports the law movement working to give women the care they need. It has inspired millions of people nationwide to raise hundreds of millions since its inception in 1984, when Massachusetts cancer survivor Margery “Margie” Gould Rath established the benefit as a way to celebrate fellow cancer survivors and raise funds for the American Cancer Society.
Strides remains integral to the anti-breast cancer crusade, says the senior manager of community events.
“It’s a beautiful thing and fills your heart with hope,” says Yilda Guerrero. “Dollars raised through these events have a very real impact on the fight to end breast cancer in New York City and beyond.”
One in every two women newly diagnosed with breast cancer reaches out to the American Cancer Society, whose support services include transportation assistance to and from treatment, free lodging for patients traveling long distances for treatment, a 24-hour hot-line with a trained cancer information specialist, and feel-better workshops for people undergoing debilitating, appearance-related side effects of treatment.
The grassroots effort begins with Strides, the group’s signature fund-raiser uniting Americans across the nation to help end the suffering.
American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk on Oct. 16, (800) 227–2345, www.makin
