Event raises funds in fight against cancer
The memory of a 33-year old young mother, who lost her battle with leukemia six months after the birth of her daughter, continues to drive a fundraising chapter formed in her honor.
Tragically, Northbrook native Suzanne Dreebin Wilensky passed away the day before Mother's Day in 1996, but her valiant effort in battling the disease lives on in the form of "Suzanne's Friends-For Life."
The chapter is one of 24 that support the Leukemia Research Foundation, based in Wilmette, which play an integral role in the organization's mission.
Suzanne's Friends gathered earlier this month at the Chicago History Museum for their annual "Fun-Raiser: A Party with a Purpose."
The event drew 200 guests from Chicago's North and Northwest suburbs, who took in the museum's 16,000-square foot gallery, "Chicago: Crossroads of America," as well as the new, "Chic Chicago" exhibition.
In the end, the evening generated $110,000 to help find a cure for leukemia, lymphoma and myelodysplastic syndromes, as well as provide financial assistance and support for patients living with these diseases, and their families.
Carl Austin, of the Leukemia Research Foundation, points to the organization's founding back in 1946, by volunteers driven to find a cure. That mission still drives its many volunteers who remember loved ones lost to the disease, by starting family chapters.
Their efforts are more vital, as their contributions provide 50 percent of the foundation's annual budget.
"Together, those 24 chapters raise about $1.2 million of our annual $2.4 budget," Austin says. "Give or take $100,000 annually, they supply 50 percent of our existence with their events and fundraising activities."
Suzanne's Friends-For Life Chapter celebrated its 10th anniversary last year, and yet its members are more resolved than ever to find a cure. Their pledge, they say, is to carry on the fight against leukemia, for life, if needed.
So far, that pledge has served to raise more than $2 million in net revenue for the Leukemia Research Foundation.