Strolling Supper with Blues and News

Hundreds of guests joined in raising close to $1 million for lung cancer research at this year’s “Strolling Supper with Blues & News” hosted by Joan’s Legacy: Uniting Against Lung Cancer. The event took place at Gotham Hall on November 17 and commemorated Lung Cancer Awareness Month in New York City with Blues – a performance by Grammy winning blues artist Delbert McClinton – and News – presentations by news anchors Tom Brokaw and Bill Ritter.

A highlight of the evening was the announcement of 12 new research grants totaling $1.2 million in funding at top cancer centers across the US. This brings Uniting Against Lung Cancer to over $12 Million in research funded since 2002 – including 72 distinct grants for innovative research projects.

“We are thrilled with the results of our Strolling Supper, for the support of our many friends and partners, and for the progress we’ve made together,” said Mary Ann Tighe, CEO of CBRE’s Tri-State Region and President of the foundation. “We still need to spread the word that lung cancer is the leading cancer killer, and we desperately need more funding to combat its growth, especially its rise in women. We will not stop in our mission.”

NBC’s Tom Brokaw, Honorary Chair of the event, worked with newswriter Joan Scarangello, for whom the foundation is named. He spoke of his inspiration by Joan, a never-smoker who lost her life to lung cancer at age 47 in 2001, and he awarded the evening’s two special prizes. The Joanie Award, which honors excellent in journalism on the under-reported subject of lung cancer, was given to Heather Unruh and WCVB TV5 in Boston for her series “The Deadliest Enemy” about young, vibrant, healthy, athletic people – all never-smokers – who were suddenly diagnosed with lung cancer and just as suddenly leaving their families behind.

Tom Brokaw also presented the foundation’s Caine Halter Hope Now Award, which recognizes a research lab and its leader who show the most progress in lung cancer research in a particular year. This year’s winner was Dr. Avi Spira of Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. Spira’s research is focused on earlier detection of lung cancer and development of treatments to improve quality of life for patients.

WABC-TV’s Bill Ritter, who lost his mother to lung cancer and is a passionate advocate for raising the profile of lung cancer and the need for research, spoke of his own experience and challenged the crowd to sponsor Joan’s Legacy’s “Research by the Hour” program. This program puts donations of as small as $25 to work directly on innovative new research grants at top cancer institutions around the US.