Volunteer Spotlight 2011

The South Florida Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure® held its annual "In The Pink" Recognition and Awards Reception at the beautiful White Horse Tavern sponsored by The FTI Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington on Thursday, May 5^th, 2011. This amazing venue provided the perfect backdrop for us to reflect on the successes of the 2010-2011 fiscal year. Most importantly - our record breaking $3 million in fundraising and $1,453,954 in grants awarded! It brought together Board Members, Key Volunteers, our Pink Honor Roll, Third Party Special Event Chairs, Rally for the Cure Chairs and Affiliate Staff as well as our current Grantees. Everyone enjoyed the opportunity for our fundraisers, volunteers and grantees to mix and mingle together, celebrate our successes and deepen our commitment to Our Vision - a world without breast cancer.

The Outstanding New Volunteer was presented to Chris Dias.

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. Chris walked into our office and told us that he wanted to volunteer, and that he was willing to do anything. We told him that was a dangerous statement to make, but of course we took him up on his offer. We later found out that his mother was a breast cancer survivor and that he just wanted to give back.

Our Affiliate has grown by having him as one our volunteers.

The Office Volunteer of the Year award was presented to Mary Lynn Kleinman.

This award is presented to a volunteer who embraced our mission and core values. This award is given to a volunteer for unwavering commitment to the office staff in rain or shine. Mary Lynn began volunteering at the Affiliate this past year. She is a longtime breast cancer survivor and had recently retired. Soon after, she was introduced to one of our most valued volunteers, Jan Rosenberg, who later asked her if she would be interested in volunteering for Komen. Luckily for us, she said yes.

Our Board President, Dave Ragsdale, was honored to present the President's Award to Richard Jacobs for his outstanding efforts in producing our 2011 Community Profile.

Susan G Komen for the Cure, like so many non-profit organizations, relies heavily on the time and energy of our invaluable volunteers. This past year, our South Florida Affiliate benefited from the work of one very special Volunteer. His hours of work on the Community Profile, our road map on how to best serve this Community and further the good work of this Affiliate, will have an impact for years.

To everyone who knows this volunteer, she defines warmth, caring, class and wisdom. As one of the 5 founding members of our Affiliate, she was the co-chair of the introductory luncheon for our first Race for the Cure in 1992. Her essay, "No Better Place" which describes the unique beauty of our Race morning is proudly published on our Affiliate website. She has consistently worked at educating the public about breast cancer awareness through the many committees she has either chaired or been a member of throughout the last 20 years. As a current board member, she has shown the true spirit of volunteerism by continually giving of her time year after year. Most importantly, she has always been a voice of reason and calm whenever we need one.

We were very proud to honor one of Affiliate's founders, Mary Booher, by creating an award in her name. The first Mary Booher Volunteerism Award was presented to Fern Duberman for her support of the Affiliate.

Fern has shown unwavering support for the Affiliate as she has played a vital role in not only fundraising, but educating the community on breast health and breast cancer. Currently sitting on the Board of Directors, this volunteer makes her voice known. She devotes eight months of the year to chairing a committee to plan the Affiliate’s most successful event, aside from the Race. Her determination has helped to bring some of the most respected speakers in the breast cancer field to the Pink Ribbon Luncheon, including Ambassador Nancy G. Brinker, Komen President Elisabeth Thompson, Lily Shockney of John’s Hopkins, and this year’s special guest speaker, Eric Brinker, Nancy’s son. As the event hit the 5 year milestone this past year, she has helped raise over $400,000 for our Affiliate.

The Affiliate proudly awarded its highest award, the Eleanor Goodman Spirit Award to Debbie Price. Debbie effortlessly shares her amazing altruistic spirit, instilling stewardship and demonstrating passion for the cause.

This Award is given to a volunteer who has shown extraordinary altruistic spirit, while instilling stewardship and demonstrating a continued passion for our cause just like Ms. Ellie has done. Debbie exhibits those same values and then some. She has been an ambassador for our cause by bringing an understanding that it is not only good to volunteer yourself, but to "pay it forward" and teach others the importance of philanthropy and to give back. Recently, at our holiday party, we were amazed to learn that many of our volunteers who attended said they became Komen volunteers because of her. She was one of the founding members of our Affiliate and has also served on the Grants, Race and Special Events Committees as well as the President of the Board of Directors. While she has no connection to breast cancer herself, she decided that this would be her cause to champion.

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 community as Miss Ellie did while stressing the importance of a passion for a cause.

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

Congratulations to all our winners!