Moffitt Cancer Center Receives 2 Komen for the Cure Grants

April 06, 2009

Community outreach workers awarded nearly $75,000 for breast programs

Tampa, FL – The Susan G. Komen for the Cure has awarded Moffitt Cancer Center two grants for community outreach programs.

Senior Community Outreach Worker Linda Paige heads up the Witness Project®, a faith-based outreach program that educates the black community about breast cancer. The Witness Project® will receive a $44,340.55 grant.

They hope to see 790 women through 18 programs this year. Of the 38 volunteers in the program, 24 are breast cancer survivors, one is a cervical cancer survivor and the rest are health advisors.

“Receiving funding for the Witness Project® will help us to continue to spread the much needed word of early detection and help with materials and incentives to teach breast and cervical health to women in all communities,” Paige said. “It will also allow us to fill a gap in the current services by developing a support group for those women who are interested in the program but need a hand to hold.”

Another $30,514 will be awarded to the Haitian Initiative, led by Senior Community Outreach Worker Claudine Thervil. This program educates Creole-speaking Haitian women in the Tampa Bay community about breast cancer.

There is a lack of data about Haitian women’s experiences, perceptions and access to breast cancer information and screening, and the Haitian Initiative hopes to change that. Thervil and her team hope to see 82 Haitian women for clinical breast exams, providing 16 breast health education sessions with eight events reaching at least 2,500 Haitian women.

“We are delighted to receive funding for another fiscal year by Susan G. Komen for the Cure,”Thervil said. “This funding will also help to decrease morbidity and mortality rates in the Haitian community of Tampa Bay by providing culturally competent materials and incentives to increase breast cancer awareness among this group.”

During the past 25 years, Komen for the Cure has raised and distributed $1.2 billion for research and community health programs. Komen is pledging to invest another $2 billion during the next 10 years.

About Susan G. Komen for the Cure

Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, that she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever. In 1982, that promise became Susan G. Komen for the Cure and launched the global breast cancer movement. Today, Komen for the Cure is the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists fighting to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for all and energize science to find the cures. Thanks to events like the Komen Race for the Cure, we have invested nearly $1 billion to fulfill our promise, becoming the largest source of nonprofit funds dedicated to the fight against breast cancer in the world.

About H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute

Located in Tampa, Florida, Moffitt Cancer Center is the only Florida-based cancer center with the NCI designation as a Comprehensive Cancer Center for its excellence in research and contributions to clinical trials, prevention and cancer control. Moffitt currently has 15 affiliates in Florida, one in Georgia and two in Puerto Rico. Additionally, Moffitt is a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, a prestigious alliance of the country’s leading cancer centers, and is listed in U.S. News & World Report as one of “America’s Best Hospitals” for cancer. Moffitt’s sole mission is to contribute to the prevention and cure of cancer.

###