Volunteer Spotlight 2010

The South Florida Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure® held its annual "In The Pink" Reception at Bear Lakes Country Club on Thursday May 13^th, 2010. This year’s event had many special surprises including a performance by the award winning Sweet Adelines International quartet “Bling!” featuring our own Dayve Gabbard.

The first ever Student Volunteer of the Year award was given to Kimberly Charles, for her commitment, passion and dedication to our Affiliate. 

Kimberly joined the staff this summer and jumped right in, rolled up her sleeves and got right to work!  She did whatever was asked and took great pride in getting us organized.  She created flyers, translated brochures and single-handedly produced over 50,000 copies of educational materials that were then coalated by other volunteers into well over 10,000 educational packets! 

Having this talented young woman in the office was both a joy and a blessing!  

The Outstanding New Volunteer was presented to Joel Namer.  This award is given to a volunteer who has exhibited advocacy to the cause and raising the bar with fresh ideas and innovative ways of thinking. 

We met Joel a little over a year ago, when he introduced himself at an Affiliate Educational Event. He stated he was interested in spreading the word about Male Breast Cancer and had trouble finding the right avenue. We knew we would have a way of doing that. Since then, he has become the Co-chair of the Speaker’s Bureau, has recruited many other volunteers to be part of the speaker’s bureau, including other male breast cancer survivors and has spoken on the Affiliate’s behalf on many occasions. He has told us that he is great at doing jobs he doesn’t get paid for! Well, we cannot pay him in dollars, but hopefully we can pay him with our enormous thanks for a job well done!

The Office Volunteer of the Year award was presented to Michele Vandenbroek.  This award is presented to a volunteer who embraced our mission and core values.

Michele came to work for the Affiliate over a year ago. She started coming into the office on a regular basis happy to do whatever that was asked. A two-time cancer survivor, she simply wanted to give back. It was clear that she was capable of so much more, and we asked her to be the Volunteer Health Fair Coordinator for the South part of our service area. She exceeded our expectations and has proven to us that volunteering to her is a labor of love. She then took on the data entry task for this year’s Race Volunteer database, a very daunting and demanding assignment. She also worked at the “I am the Cure” Booth at this year’s Race bringing breast health awareness to countless participants. Congratulations Michele!

The Affiliate announced the creation of its highest award, the Eleanor Goodman Spirit Award. This year’s recipient was Patricia Abramson, for sharing an extraordinary altruistic spirit, instilling stewardship, and demonstrating passion for the cause. 

The Eleanor Goodman Spirit Award was created in honor of Susan G. Komen and Nancy G. Brinker's mother, Eleanor Goodman, also known as "Ms. Ellie".  Ms. Ellie instilled the importance of giving back to the community in her daughters at a very early age. The recipient of this award must instill the same altruistic spirit in their children as Miss Ellie did while stressing the importance of a passion for a cause.

Follow this link for a special message from Eleanor Goodman.

Congratulations Patti Abramson! 

Congrartualtions to all our winners!  Also, a big thank you also goes out to all our Third Party Special Events and Golf and Rally Events Chairs!

In the fiscal year 2009-2010 our Affiliate funded and our grantees provided 4,107 breast cancer screening services, and from these screenings 33 breast cancers diagnosed.  Without Komen Funding, these cancers might have been missed.

The Affiliate announced the 2010-2011 grantees.  For more information, please visit our grantee pages on our website.