More than 2700 walkers raised more than $6 million this weekend in the 7th Annual San Francisco Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.
Sign up by tonight for the 2010 walk and save $20 off the registration fee.
Here’s a team in Golden Gate Park. Click to expand:
And here’s the finish line at Speedway Meadow, the place where the 2009 Golden Gate Renaissance Faire won’t happen this year. Check the photos.
Each walker raised at least $1800 in donations from friends. If they didn’t come up with all the dough, then they committed to pay the remainder from their own credit cards. Thusly:
“If you have not yet met your donation minimum you may choose the deferred commitment option to guarantee the minimum donation amount. A deferred commitment is your promise to fundraise for two months after the event in order to meet your minimum of $1,800.”
(That’s a lot of commitment.)
Speaking of which, check out the Yelp ratings – five stars each from the eleven committed alpha females of course, but only three stars from the sole dude, who points out a little history of the event involving Dan Pallotta and Pallotta Teamworks:
“Litigation lasted until 2005, w/ Avon being awarded $19,525,639.00 of it’s $20 million counterclaim. The court determined that Pollatta had lost money running some of the AIDS Rides & used the profitable Breast Cancer Walk money to pay for losses. A few days after the news the company abruptly laid off its entire staff nationwide & closed the doors.”
Hmmm. Rumors, accusations, and finger-pointing abounded when people found out how much of the money raised was being used to pay Pallotta Teamworks for organizing events all over the country. Of course, Mr. Pallotta defended his thesis about how ya gotta spend money to make money, or something like that. Regardless, there was a backlash against Pallotta and his Lexus and his large HQ, and so, Pallotta Teamworks ain’t putting on the show no mo. Anyway…
Congratulations to all the walkers! See you next year!
More deets after the jump.
Here’s where the proceeds went last year, FYI:
University of California San Francisco (San Francisco, CA) $1,490,000
Funds will support two groundbreaking research projects. First, research to determine whether viruses play a role in breast cancer and if virus “transcripts” can serve as a marker for risk of breast cancer; and research that will seek to predict which early stage breast cancers are likely to progress to invasive cancer and metastasize.
San Francisco General Hospital Foundation (San Francisco, CA) $1,150,000
SFGH is an Avon Foundation Center of Excellence. Funds will support several initiatives, including the “Avon Comprehensive Breast Care Center” at SFGH, a mobile mammography van, a high-risk genetic clinic, and community outreach and breast cancer research programs.
Alameda County Medical Center (Oakland, CA) $500,000
Funds will expand and integrate the Pathfinders Outreach and the Cancer Navigation programs at Highland Hospital in order to increase the number of low-income, multi-cultural women who are screened at community clinics and to improve the timeliness and quality of care offered.
California Breast Cancer Research Program (CBCRP) (Oakland, CA) $500,000
Funds will support a ground-breaking new partnership between the Avon Foundation and the California Breast Cancer Research Program. The Avon Foundation-CBCRP Collaborative will co-fund three pilot breast cancer research projects in the areas of understanding the etiology and cause of breast cancer, and programs to understand disparities and variation in racial and ethnic survival after a breast cancer diagnosis.
Charlotte Maxwell Complementary Clinic (Oakland and San Francisco, CA) $250,000
Funds will expand the delivery of complementary alternative medicine, social services, and holistic health for extremely low-income women in the San Francisco Bay and Oakland areas. 75 percent of patients served are women of color; 40 percent speak little or no English and all are below the 200 percent poverty level.
Project Open Hand (San Francisco, CA) $225,000
Funds will expand their Homebound Critically Ill Program that provides meals and education programs for breast cancer patients and other critically ill patients. Funds also support an innovative “grocery program” for breast cancer clients, particularly focused on Chinese breast cancer patients.
Zero Breast Cancer (San Rafael, CA) $150,000
This grant will be used to engage the community in breast cancer research and participate in novel research studies including Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Center, Prospective Study of Breast Cancer Survivorship in the Bay Area, and a project to develop a Bay Area Geographic Information System (GIS).