SAVE THE DATEThePowerof thePurse

Friday, OctOber 21, 20116:30 pm to 9:30 pm | St. Regis San Francisco | www.thisoldbag.org

presents

spring 2011s p e c i a l e d i t i o n !

Heart to Heart newsletter

It's hard to believe that it was 10 years ago this month (April 2001) that Breast Cancer Emergency Fund was founded. During our first year of service, BCEF assisted 42 women in San Francisco. Today, we serve more than 350 people in San Francisco and San Mateo Counties. We’ve provided over $1.5 million dollars in emergency financial assistance. And we’re growing!

Our founders had the vision that no one battling breast cancer would fight alone. They established BCEF so that no woman would have to choose between being able to afford life-extending medi-cal care and meeting basic needs. The impact of that vision has larger ripples; over 30% of BCEF clients have depen-dent children in their household. BCEF assistance enables more people to concentrate on that which is most impor-tant during a battle with a devastating illness — personal health and family.

BCEF is proud of the partnerships we’ve built in the communities we serve. BCEF’s collaboration with over 30 partner

BCEF Celebrates 10 Years of Serviceagencies in two counties replicates the revolutionary public health model established by HIV/AIDS service providers. Our collaborative mantra is “every door is the right door,” meaning that a person in need can enter service at any one agency or medical facility and instantly be referred to all other necessary services. This may seem remarkably simple, but it is unique. And our clients benefit from the collaboration.

We have many people to thank for their roles in making sure every door is open to low-income people battling breast

cancer. BCEF does not receive public funding, so our individual and corporate donors are essential. This year will be full of commemoration and celebration. But we’d like to take a moment now to recognize BCEF’s Cornerstone Donors: The San Francisco Bay Area Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Kaiser Permanente, Safeway and To Celebrate Life Breast Cancer Foundation. For a decade, their support has been the foun-dation of our services to people in need. Thank you!!

BCEF CONTINUES TO GROW

Annual Assistance Grants for Clients

‘01 ‘02 ‘03 ‘04 ‘05 ‘06 ‘07 ‘08 ‘09 ‘10

$50k

$100k

$150k

$200k

$250k

$300k

Our cOmmunity never stOpsgiving

09.26.10susan G. Komen race for tHe cureThousands of enthusiastic runners and walkers were cheered by supporters on a gloriously sunny Embarcadero morning for the San Francisco Bay Area Affiliate of Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. As recipients of $150,000 this year for client emergency funds, BCEF was proud to be a part of the festivities. BCEF also organized a spirited Cheering Station for the Komen National 3-Day walk in San Francisco October 1-3. We Love Komen! More Info: www.komensf.org

10.03.10castro street fairThanks to the jubilance of our fantastic vol-unteers from Alpha Epsilon Nu at University of San Francisco and the Plus Us+ program at Alameda Science and Technology Institute, the Castro Street Fair was a fun day in the sun for all. These college and high school kids helped raise over $1500 for Breast Cancer Emergency Fund! More info: www.castrostreetfair.org

10.08.10Beats for BooBsBeats for Boobs hosted its 7th annual fund-raiser on October 8th and raised $14,000 for BCEF. The B4B team declared a war on breast cancer at Mezzanine. An impressive team of fashion designers, models, fire per-formers and roller derby girls came together to battle against breast cancer. Sure feels good to have such a fierce group of women fighting for BCEF! www.beatsforboobs.org

10.23.10once Bitten BinGoBCEF has been blessed by the ultimate guardian angels — the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Led by our darling Sister Jezebel, the Sisters dedicated their annual Halloween Once Bitten Bingo to benefit BCEF, raising $1,000 for our clients! A-men, A-women and Every One In Between! Thank you, divine Sisters! www.thesisters.org

11.17.10DinesHoPDrinKThe annual single day fundraiser of dining, shopping and drinking (with brother agency, AIDS Emergency Fund) raised over $35,000. Heartfelt thanks go out Zephyr Real Estate and all of the wonderful restaurants, merchants and bars that so selflessly helped us raise money for our clients. Please show your support back to them by visiting these champion businesses! Find the list at: www.dineshopdrink.org

09.26.10folsom street eventsBCEF was granted $17,500 from the fabulous folks at Folsom Street Events, producers of the Folsom Street Fair, Magnitude and Up Your Alley Street Fair. Folsom Street Events again leads the charge in San Francisco for the amount of money raised and donated to local and national charities for a single organization; this year’s donations totaled $326,461! More info: www.folsomstreetevents.org

Photo: FredAlert

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Cynthia Hester, Board President

Ten years ago, there was nothing like Breast Cancer Emergency Fund. Low-income peo-ple living with breast cancer were utterly on their own, often facing

eviction or utilities shut off during treat-ment. There simply was no agency dedicated to supporting basic living expenses for breast cancer patients and their families.

In 2001, that changed. A group of visionaries—community leaders, activ-ists, patients in treatment and survi-vors—created an agency designed to quickly respond to an urgent need and be sustainable into the future. Since then, Breast Cancer Emergency Fund has provided over $1.5 million dollars in emergency assistance for low-income people living with breast cancer.

Ten years of service is a major mile-stone. To honor this achievement, we are taking another major step now to ensure the long term sustainabil-ity of the organization. I am proud to announce the launch of BCEF’s Sustainers Program. BCEF Sustainers pledge a monthly gift to support a

person battling breast cancer. 100% of all gifts directly benefit a person in need.

We were humbled (but not surprised) to enroll Leslie Ewing, one of BCEF’s founders, as our first Sustainer. Leslie wrote: “I know firsthand that this seem-ingly small gift will make a real dif-ference in someone’s life. I am also making my gift in honor of a loved one who never stopped working to make life better for all people facing life-threatening illnesses. The memory of her grace and courage inspires me to continue supporting the community so dear to her heart... I also trust Breast Cancer Emergency Fund to be fiscally responsible with my gift and make sure that the money will directly support someone in need with a minimum of overhead. Today, that’s more important than ever.”

We move into our second decade of service with a big challenge — to continue to serve a growing number of clients in a tight economy. But BCEF is once again ready to step up to the challenge. Please join us and make a difference in the lives of women bat-tling breast cancer.

H2H2

Client CornerWhat if we treated every day like Mother’s Day? And what if we treated every woman like she was the most important person in our lives? She might be a mother or she might be a neighbor. She might be someone you know or she might be someone you’ve never met. Beyond brunch, bouquets,

and greeting cards, what would you wish for her? Health, Happiness, and Community. A sense of security when the going gets rough. At BCEF, we’ll mark this Mother’s Day by continuing our mission to serve women (and men!) in need.

Women like Vickie, a 26 year old mother, who faced che-motherapy and surgery. Vickie’s husband took an unpaid leave from work to care for her and their young son. But Vickie’s recovery took longer than they’d anticipated and the family quickly fell behind on bills. BCEF provided rental assistance and Safeway gift cards to support Vickie’s recovery. Vickie’s husband has since returned to work and the family’s situa-tion has stabilized. BCEF helped prevent a crisis that would impact an entire family.

Or women like Rhoda, a single mother of two. Rhoda lost her job when she missed work for breast cancer treatment. She could no longer maintain her COBRA expenses which included her children’s medical coverage. She faced a des-perate decision: in order to maintain her breast cancer care, Rhoda would need to enroll in a reduced insurance plan that excluded her children. BCEF immediately stepped in to pay the family’s COBRA payments for several months. We connected Rhoda to a medical social worker who enrolled her and her children in a state-subsidized medical plan that would provide long-term coverage. Rhoda’s recovery will be long but BCEF helped lighten the journey by providing security for her family.

Supporting one another doesn’t take a special day. We can all be that person in someone’s life who offers nurturance and compassion, advocacy and connections. At BCEF, that’s what we call FAMILY.

1. To keep in existence; maintain. 2. To supply with necessities or nourishment; provide for. 3. To support from below; keep from falling or sinking; prop.4.To support the spirits, vitality, or resolution of; encourage.

Synonyms: nourish, nurture

sustain \s -'stan\ (verb)SUSTAINER \s -'stan-er\ (noun)

f r o m t h e P r e s i d e n t

Madelyn Stone, Program Director

02.07.11volunteer aPPreciation PartyVolunteers are vital to BCEF! So as a small token of our appreciation, we hosted our annual Volunteer Appreciation Party at Yerba Buena Bowl. If you were unable to make it, let us just say how much we appreciate you. Thank you to all of our amazing volunteers!

02.23.115tH annual PinK PartyCLIFT’s Annual Pink Party in the renowned Redwood Room was another smashing success! 100% of Pink Champagne purchases and raffle ticket sales were donated to BCEF, Swanky guests in pink, sipping on bubbly, were mixing, mingling and grooving to the beats of DJ shOOey. A great big thank you goes out to Stacy Aldrich and all at the CLIFT for making this event possible and for raising nearly $9,000 for BCEF.

Thank You Volunteers!BCEF is fortunate to have a large num-ber of outstanding, dedicated volun-teers. We couldn’t function without them. So on February 7th, we treated our volunteers to a night of bowling, pizza, and goodies at Yerba Buena Bowl to honor them for their commit-ment and hard work throughout 2010.

During a brief presentation ceremony, BCEF Executive Director Mike Smith thanked all the volunteers, including our extraordinary Board of Directors, for their continued support. Volunteer Manager Sean Greene saluted the volunteers as well, noting that each of them deserved recognition. But even among such a stellar group, there were a few who consistently went above and beyond the call of duty this past year.

The following volunteers were hon-ored for their extra dedication to BCEF: Julia Avramides, Timm Dobbins, Ivan Holum, Mary Mack, Robert McLoud and Brad Sherbert.

Special recognition went out to BCEF’s beloved previous Volunteer Manager, Joanie Juster, for her many years of outstanding service to BCEF.

03.06.11Benefit for tHe BooB: QuaDroBooB!Sister Sara Femme RRSPI and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Inc. presented the 4th Annual Benefit for the Boob: Quadra-boob at Wild Side West in glamorous Bernal Heights. Sister Sara’s team of cabaret, drag kings, faux queens, comedians and performers raised nearly $2,700 for BCEF clients!! Heartfelt thanks!!

03.26.11wHisKies of tHe worlDThe Whiskies of the World Expo gathered the world’s most fascinating distilled spirits along with their makers and ambassadors for a night of sophisticated fun. A live Pipe & Drum band, mixology demos, Celtic gear, lots of men in kilts and artisanal food raised funds for BCEF clients. Cheers to Whiskies of the World!

11.22.10Gina KHan salonThank you so much to Gina Khan's staff and patrons for another fabulous salon day to benefit BCEF. Gina Khan Salon opened its doors and hearts on Monday, November 22. Mondays are usually a day of rest for salons, but Gina and her staff dedicated the entire day as a labor of love to support women battling breast cancer. 100% of all revenue, tips and donations raised that day (over $3500) were donated to BCEF. Thank you to everyone at the Gina Khan Salon and everyone who participated in the special salon day. More info: www.ginakhan.com

May 8th is Mother's Day!

H2H3

Honor the women in your life with a special Breast Cancer Emergency Fund (BCEF) Mother’s Day tribute card. Help BCEF celebrate our 10th year of service with a tax-deductible gift of $10 or more. With your help BCEF has provided over 1.5 million dollars in emergency assistance for low-income people living with breast cancer.

100% of your gift directly benefits BCEF clients!

MAKE A GIFT ONLINE:

breastcanceremergencyfund.org/ donatenowSelect “Million Dollar Mother’s Day” in the program area. Please use the comment field to include the names and mail-ing addresses for your recipients. Make gifts of $10 or more online by April 29, 2011.

OR TALK TO US DIRECTLY:

Please call us at 415.558.6999 ext 230

Volunteer Spotlight

Sean Greene, Volunteer and Communications Manager

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Bcef12 GrACE StrEEt SuitE 300 SAn FrAnCiSCo, CA 94103

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follow us on twitterbcef_events

volunteer now!volunteer@bcef-sf.org

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PAIDSAN FRANCISCO, CA

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Friday, OctOber 21tHiS OLd baGS A V E T H E D A T E

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St. Regis San Francisco

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Providing emergency financial assistance to people in active treatment for breast cancer

Staying ConnectedAre you flipping through this

newsletter trying to find news about AIDS Emergency Fund? As you read the first BCEF News-letter, you might miss our joint AEF/BCEF news and wonder:

are AEF and BCEF still connected? Don’t panic — BCEF and AEF are still under one roof — we’ve just split our newsletters into two! If you look at the masthead on page 3, you’ll see that we still share the same Board of Directors and staff. We also share the same office space and other administrative expenses in order to reduce overhead and maximize dollars out the door to clients. And of course, we share many of the same loyal supporters.

But both agencies are growing — AEF’s assis-tance to clients grew by 5% last year and BCEF

client services grew by 21%. And with all the community events and activities to report on, we’ve both got a lot of news. Frankly, the cost of producing a 2-page newsletter is dramati-cally less than an expanded 4-6 page newslet-ter. Every Penny Counts is still our motto. We cut costs whenever and wherever we can. So, we’ve divvied up our newsletters.

If you’d like to receive both newsletters or opt out of any mailing, please contact us at development@bcef-sf.org. You can always track our latest news online at www.breastcancer-emergencyfund.org and www.aef-sf.org. For our AEF supporters, stay tuned for the next Heart to Heart newsletter in May. And BCEF sup-porters, please remember to save the date — This Old Bag 2011 is Friday, October 21 at St. Regis San Francisco!! www.thisoldbag.org

Mike Smith, Executive DirectorPerspective