Top Fundraising Teams and Volunteers Recognized at LLS Awards Ceremony

February 17, 2015 – Revolution Hall (Troy, NY) filled with nearly 200 team captains and walkers, sponsors and key volunteers on February 10^th as the Upstate New York/Vermont Chapter of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) recognized top fundraisers and leading sponsors for its annual Light The Night^® Walk, which raised over $296,000 in 2014 for blood cancer patients and their families.

Awardees included: 

§  Avery’s Army, led by Team Captain Erika Lyons - Top Friends & Family Team ($14,722)

§  Price Chopper/Wicked Strong, co-captained by Tom Hayden and Patrick Kenneally -Top Corporate Team ($12,481

§  International Built-In Systems, led by Team Captain Jason Kenney -“Rookie of the Year Team” ($11,720)

§  Tami Gunsch, SVP Berkshire Bank, won both the Executive Challenge and Top Individual Fundraiser titles, with a record $5,159 in personal individual fundraising.

New fundraising records were also set by three Light the Night Corporate Champions:

§  Rifenburg Companies -$62,100 in Total Corporate Impact

§  Price Chopper - $23,981 in Total Corporate Impact

§  Berkshire Bank - $23,091 in Total Corporate Impact

“We were there [at the Walk] to show cancer that we are bigger, stronger, and would fight harder to get rid of it forever.  We will be back again year after year to show cancer that we won't give up, that we will fight back, and we will win!”recounts Erika Lyons, Avery’s Army Team Captain.  Her daughter Avery, who just celebrated her third birthday, is currently undergoing treatment for leukemia at Albany Medical Center.  

“Approximately every three minutes one person in the United States is diagnosed with a blood cancer,” states Maureen O’Brien Thornton, Executive Director of the UNY/VT Chapter, adding that, “an estimated combined total of 156,420 people in the US were expected to be diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma in 2014.”  Someone in the US dies from a blood cancer every 10 minutes; financial contributions, such as those raised at the Light the Night Walk, have helped to more than double the survival rate for Hodgkin, Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, Myeloma and Leukemia since the 1960s.

LLS holds Light the Night Walks each fall in approximately 200 communities across the United States and Canada. Participants at the walks carry illuminated lanterns – white for patients and survivors, red for supporters, and gold in memory of loved ones lost – to honor and commemorate lives touched by blood cancer. In the Capital Region, the Walk will take place on Saturday, October 10^th, 2015 at Siena College. Carol Miller, Director of Special Events, and Dona Stone, PHR Director of Human Resources at Rifenburg Companies, will continue serving as Corporate Walk Co-Chairs of the 2015 Light The Night^® Walk.

Funds raised through corporate and individual contributions help to find cures and better therapies for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkins disease and myeloma, as well as provide information, education and support for patients and their families.  To find out more, visit:    www.lightthenight.org/uny