Bloomingdale’s Continues to Make a Difference to our Breast Cancer Non-Profit
May 24th, 2012 was a perfect day, it began with a segment on The Today Show. It was so exciting to share our story on national television. National television! I still can’t believe that we had this opportunity. Our first call after the show was from Anne Keating, SVP of Public Relations at Bloomingdale’s. She saw our segment and was interested in discussing the possibility of working together. Done and done.
It has been three years since this sensational day, and Bloomingdale’s is now a major supporter of The Carey Foundation. Each October they send Bob, myself and author Marisa Acocella Marchetto to stores across the US to participate in The Pink Campaign. Each store we visit creates an event in which customers can stop by and chat, play with the great props in Photo Booth or snack on a tasty treat. One of my favorite parts of October is talking with customers that stop by the store to share their cancer story.
In-store chats are amazing, but what counts, even more, is the reach that we have thanks to Bloomingdale’s support. With their generous support, we can further our mission and help those living with breast cancer.
For3Sisters, one of the recipient non-profits recently shared a story of how this donation from Bloomingdale’s made an enormous impact on one woman’s life:
I think the biggest challenge we faced was trying to keep a young widowed mother and her two young children from being evicted before Christmas. She had been out of active treatment for over a year, which makes it nearly impossible to receive help from cancer and breast cancer organizations. She had been out of work recovering from reconstruction related surgeries, as well as preventative surgeries related to her BRCA mutation. Her fiancé had passed away suddenly the year before, leaving her financially devastated.
With the odds stacked against us, For 3 Sisters worked tirelessly to search and apply for benefits that would keep her and her two children in her home. We looked at housing agencies, eviction prevention charities, cancer charities, and more. It was the coldest days of the year, and Christmas was only a couple of weeks away. Most organizations didn’t have the funds to help. Finally, with a week to spare, For 3 Sisters partnered with a local organization that could pay the funds to keep this mother from being evicted. For 3 Sisters did the research, completed the paperwork, and liaised with the landlord and all involved to ensure this mother and her kids had a warm and safe Christmas.
~ Shannon Moneymaker, President
That letter made everything we do feel so real. We are reaching people beyond in-store appearances and social media conversations. We all matter so much to so many people. Bob and I thank Anne and her phenomenal team – without them this kind of reach would not be possible.
Linda Carey is the co-creator of The Tutu Project and President of the Carey Foundation. She has been living with Metastatic Breast Cancer for fifteen years and is an advocate for the breast cancer community.
I had the pleasure of meeting Bob Carey three years ago in my art class at Phoenix College, he was a guest speaker (such an inspirational, humble and sincere person). He shared his testimony about how he and his wife endured while she was fighting cancer and how The Tutu Project started. His wife would share with him the struggles women she met where she was being treated had to face regarding transportation or daycare for their children and she wanted to help.
I loved the fact that Bob and his wife thought of others when many individuals only think about themselves in self-pity while going through hard times. Instead, they decided to help others in a way that very few do, in the “little things” that in reality they are what make a difference in a person’s life.
Yes, it its essential to have organizations that help with treatment and research costs but in the mean time, why not take some of the burden off those fighting breast cancer and put a smile on their faces? The Tutu Project does exactly that. Keep on the good work and God bless you!
It is so awesome what y’all are doing to help others.