A Night At The Races for Cancer Care
The fundraising event, “Night at the Races for Breast Cancer,” started as a casual conversation between friends. Back in 2016, Tarry Schaefer from Meadow Wind Health Care Center, Jan Rowland from Advantage Home Health and Larry Hendrickson from Crossroads Hospice were discussing how they’d like to do something more for the community. They all agreed and recognized the vast impact that breast cancer has on so many lives. So, they decided to raise funds for the two local hospitals’ breast care centers.
Just a few days before the first-ever “Night at the Races” event back in 2016, Tarry, Jan and Larry feared they would have to cancel the event. They had less than 4 days left and hadn’t yet sold enough tickets. After making one last push with advertising, they decided to go ahead with it. This was a very smart decision, as they ended up making $3,200 and had about 200 people attend the event.
Those first-year attendees must have had a fantastic time and spread the word because the following year, in 2017, the 250 tickets for the event sold out - with nearly no advertising! That year, they raised $6,400 for the breast care centers at both Mercy and Aultman Hospitals.
This year, the team is hoping to sell 350 tickets for the annual “Night at the Races for Breast Cancer.” It will be held on Friday, Oct. 19 at Tozzi’s on 12th. The fun evening is not just the races, but also includes a photo booth, a basket raffle and other activities that keep things entertaining and lively. The theme this year is the Kentucky Derby, and they plan to have a hat contest, too! For the very reasonable $15 ticket cost, you receive a chicken parmesan dinner with salad, bread, cake and 2 drink tickets.
In addition to Tarry, Jan and Larry, volunteers from Meadow Wind, Advantage Home Health and Crossroads Hospice help to make sure the event runs smoothly. All funds raised will be donated evenly to Mercy and Aultman breast care centers.
Tarry, Jan, and Larry would really like to see the funds be used to purchase items that are not covered by insurance, such as lymphedema garments and chemo caps, or to help uninsured patients. And, although Tarry stated that she knows their gift isn’t the largest one that Mercy or Aultman receives, “If it matters to one person, if we can help one person, it is worth it!”
