The organizers of the Play for P.I.N.K. event at Shackamaxon Golf and Country Club, in aid of breast cancer research, include, from left, Beth Hornstein, Marci Crystal, Kasia Frankfort, and event cochairs Lori Nitzberg and Ronni Grebow.
Sidebar
July 10, 2008
Think pink: That’s the theme when local women golfers join a national effort to raise money for breast cancer research.
At Shackamaxon Golf and Country Club in Scotch Plains on July 15, players are hoping to raise at least $46,000 at the 13th annual Play for P.I.N.K. golf outing and luncheon.
The money will come from the fees they pay to play, from the lunch following the game — which is open to non-players as well — and from the auction of all kinds of donated luxury products and services.
The organizers happen mostly to be Jewish. They include cochairs Lori Nitzberg, Ronni Grebow, Ricki Birner, Marci Crystal, Kasia Frankfort, and Beth Hornstein.
They, along with the almost all the other participants, will be pretty in pink — shorts or skirts or shirts, hair bands or sneakers, or whatever else they can find to honor the theme.
Play for P.I.N.K. was started in 1996 by Evelyn Lauder of the Lauder cosmetics empire. P.I.N.K. stands for Prevention, Immediate diagnosis, New technology, and Knowledge. Nitzberg said that events at 140 country clubs across the nation have raised around $12.75 million since that time. About 15,000 women and men have taken part.
With a little help from Bloomberg Finance L.P. — actually, quite a lot of help — and a few other major concerns, the administrative costs are totally covered. That means 100 percent of the money donated goes to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, for work at various research centers in the tri-state area.
Nitzberg got involved four years ago, shortly after her mother died of breast cancer. She said it was a way for her to respond constructively to the loss, and to take a stand against cancer.
“Who hasn’t been touched by this disease in some way, or known someone who has been?” she asked. Her mother set for her an example of social service, working hard to develop the early childhood program at her synagogue in Florida.
The first year at Shackamaxon, the event raised around $4,000. That figure has grown more than tenfold. This year, Nitzberg said, she was worried that fewer people would support the effort with the economy in its present state. So far, they are proving her wrong, with donations coming in at a steady rate, and her hopes are high for a record yield.
The deadline to register for the event — either the golfing and/or the lunch and auction — is Friday, July 12. To register, contact Lori Nitzberg at 646-226-1400 or lori@topsville.com.
Century for a century
Warren Township resident Scott Glickman, center, founder of the Century for the Cure bike ride, is congratulated by his family — from left, his daughter, Julia; his sister, Laura; his daughter, Emily; and his mother, Marcia Michaels — at the end of the 100-mile event that takes place annually in the township.
Like the women organizing the breast cancer fund-raiser at Shackamaxon, another member of the Central Jewish community is involved in raising funds for cancer research through sport: Scott Glickman, of Warren Township, founder of the annual Century for the Cure bike ride.
Glickman, who had stage four non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, started the ride in 2005, after his own extraordinary recovery. He has ridden in it every year. The first year, 13 riders raised $30,000. Last year, with 60 cyclists, the event brought in $102,000 for research at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey in New Brunswick, the facility where Glickman was treated. This year, he is hoping for at least 100 participants, with a goal of raising $150,000.
Registration has just opened for this year’s 100-mile ride, scheduled to take place on Sept. 12 at Camp Riverbend in Warren. Registration costs $45 and each participant is asked to raise at least $5,000.
Riders and volunteers can register on-line at www.centuryforthecure.com. Donations may also be made on the Web site or mailed to Century for the Cure, PO Box 4129, Warren, NJ 07059.
— ELAINE DURBACH
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