Making Strides this Fall

Welcome back everyone! Thanks for dropping in as we kick off September and bid a final adieu to summer. It was a hot one!

But as we learned last month (scroll down if you missed it!) the sun still shines in autumn and there are many things to look forward to once we stow away those beach towels.

Sure there will be new shows on TV and the return of some of our faves, but with crisp air around the bend and colorful fall foliage, it’s a great time to get outside.

Need another reason? Imagine impacting lives by taking a stroll during one of Mother Nature’s prettiest seasons.

Let’s talk walks.

It should be clear by now, at Eye of the Survivor we support and spread the word about any person, group or organization making moves to fight breast cancer. Whether as a patient, survivor, fundraiser, family member, friend or in another role – we’ve said it before – our common goal is the same: to one day find a cure.

Though half our calendar proceeds went to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation for our 2016 calendar, we acknowledge and applaud all other fighters and fundraisers out there and feel connected with them all. We delight in informing our readers about them and their events.

The American Cancer Society, with more than a century of dedication under its belt, is committed to eliminating cancer from our lives through fundraising, research, and providing programs and information. While ACS covers all forms of cancer, it does a fair share for breast cancer specifically with its well-known Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walks.

The first walk originated back in 1984 as Making Strides Against Cancer thanks to Massachusetts cancer fighter Margery “Margie” Gould Rath. Margie wanted to raise funds for ACS by shining a light on the cause and uniting people in celebration of cancer survival.

This inaugural walk held in Boston, drew 200 participants, and to Margie’s credit, became an annual event. By 1993 the walks were officially targeted to breast cancer and renamed Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. In just those first nine years the walks had already grown in size 25 times over and spread beyond Boston to include areas in New Hampshire, reaching an impressive 5,000 participants in total.

Today, more than two decades later, the well-known Strides walks are still a force having raised more than $685 million through events in almost 300 communities nationwide and more than 11 million walkers to date.

Naturally, we consider Margie a sister and a role model! She remained passionate and active as a Strides volunteer until she died from cancer in 2001. Now her memory and inspiration live on through the monumental impact she has made and in every participant out there making strides.

For our local readers, many of these walks will take place next month in an area near you including Edison, NJ on 10/9, Central Park, NYC on 10/16, and Jersey City, NJ on 10/23, just to name a few.

To find many more locations in the metro area or a spot closest to you plug in your zip on this page and get moving!

There's still time to donate or sign up for this one, but if you can’t join next month, we’ll keep you posted about other events throughout the year held by other rockstar cancer-fighting organizations.

Not only do events like this raise awareness but as Margie intended from day one, they unite people for a like cause just by doing something that’s pretty easy for most of us. Like Ghandi once said, “In a gentle way, you can shake the world.” So we say get involved, take a leisurely jaunt and let's shake things up! Every cent raised for research brings us one step closer to finding a cure.

Some of our own cent raisers are the wonderful women who helped produce our very first calendar earlier this year by letting our founder Reggy Stainfil photograph their beautiful faces! Through this blog and our social media, we get to share the stories behind those bright smiles so come back later this month to meet our September star. She’s got the Eye of the Survivor for sure!