WAYNE — Valley National Bank held its eighth annual breast cancer walk titled "Valley Goes Pink!" on Saturday, Oct. 8, raising nearly $100,000 that day.
The event kicked-off at 1460 Valley Road in Wayne, and more than 700 employees, family members and friends came together to raise money for the Cure Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF).
Valley Goes Pink! is an inspirational and impactful opportunity to raise money and awareness for the Cure Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF). All of the proceeds raised are used for research and conferences at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and other national and international research facilities under the direction of Larry Norton, M.D., who serves as the foundation’s scientific advisor.
At a recent think tank conference in Haifa, Israel sponsored by CBCF, international breast cancer researchers from the United States, Israel, and Europe concluded that the current breast cancer screening model for the BRCA mutations focusing on family history is not working. For a variety of reasons this likely misses some individuals who carry such mutations, denying these people the opportunity to undertake prevention strategies.
“Knowing that one has a dangerous mutation could well be life-saving since one can do things to minimize one’s risk,” said Norton who was the organizer and chair for this meeting.
Over the past eight years, Valley has raised more than $800,000 in support of Dr. Norton’s research. This year’s event featured prize drawings, a 50/50 raffle, free food and beverages and a food drive for the Center of United Methodist Aid to the Community (CUMAC) to help feed the hungry. CUMAC runs Passaic County's largest food pantry and multiple programs dedicated to alleviating hunger and poverty in Paterson, Passaic County and northern New Jersey. CUMAC has been serving the community for more than 40 years and has seen exponential growth over the past seven years feeding approximately 3,400 people per month. All of the remaining food, fruit, snacks, candy and beverages from the event were donated to CUMAC as well.