Ed Smith spoke with Chris Keyes, Associate Board Co-President at Cancer Support Community at Gilda’s Club.
-Chris explained how he first got involved with Cancer Support Community back in 2017 when he moved back to Rochester and wanted to find a way to get more involved with the community. He had been involved with Camp Good Days, supporting children with cancer and then was asked to be part of their annual bachelor auction.
-He has been involved ever since and has worked his way to CO-president of the Associate Board.
-Chris said that the fact that the money raised for the organization stays local and seeing how many families they can help really made him want to become a part of Cancer Support Community
-He explained what the Associate board is and how they assist in fundraising and execution of events.
-Chris says this is a great way for younger professionals who might not have the financial means to support the organization to help out by donating their time and talents.
-He also said they are currently looking for more folks to join the Associate Board
-We talked about the President’s Award that he just received at the Heroes Ball as the organization has honored him for all of his support
-He talked about a member of Cancer Support Community that is dealing with cancer, decided to take an art class with Cancer Support Community and never really had an interest in art but is doing so well that he is now selling his art nationally
-Chris spoke about the importance of members building relationships with other members gives them an outlet to talk and connect with someone that will understand the cancer journey
-Chris is also the football coach at St. John Fisher University and he talked about one of his players that participated in a fundraising event for Cancer Support Community over the last two years but was recently diagnosed with cancer and so Chris was able to connect him with some folks at Cancer Support Community who have had the same type of cancer.
-He shared some details about a variety of the activities that Cancer Support offers from art classes, music lessons and the Community Chef’s program that the Associate Board supports.
-Community Chefs provides meals for the members
-Chris talked about the Golf Classic Fundraising event coming up that the Associate Board plans and helps execute
-He encourage people and local businesses to get involved
-Chris gave a preview of an some events they are working on for the fall, one called Path to Path and their Mustache event in November
-They do these events to raise money for Cancer Support Community because all of the services, classes and programs are offered at no cost to its members