For the second year in a row Wilton women Cathy Parese and Tricia Hartner will host a benefit for the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation. “A Country Western Night” is planned for this Friday, June 5 at the Wilton Riding Club (60 Riding Club Rd.) from 7-11 p.m.. Parese and Hartner, long time residents of Wilton, both battled–and beat–lung cancer.
The duo have fundraised previously for the “Lungevity Walk” and last year held their first event for the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation, when they raised $40,000 after just six weeks of planning. They hope to exceed that tally this year, and they thought the idea for this year’s Country Western Hoedown was a fun way to create awareness and raise money. Organizers say the event will be a fun, casual night, with BBQ fare and country music, and attendees can leave fancy dresses and high heels at home in favor of comfy jeans and cowboy boots.
“We are both survivors and both exceptionally lucky. Lung cancer typically has terrible outcomes and we want to create awareness of the disease, erase the stigma it has as well as raise funds for the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation. This Foundation is doing amazing things for lung cancer patients and their families, as well as funding innovate research projects that we hope will lead to a cure. Their mission is to make lung cancer a chronically managed disease by 2023, an aggressive and welcomed goal,” the women said in a press release.
“May people don’t know that lung cancer is the biggest cancer killer but is the least funded. It kills more people than breast, colon, liver, melanoma and kidney cancers combined. Nearly 80-percent of newly diagnosed lung cancer patients either never smoked or quite smoking decades ago, and two-thirds are women. Lung Cancer kills more women than breast cancer,” they said.
There will be an auction at the event, and auction items include a stay at a Nantucket vacation home, an evening catered by the Big Green Pizza Truck, bespoke jewelry and other items. There will also be a “wine toss.”
Tickets to the event are $85 per person and can be purchased online or at the door the night of the event.
The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (ALCF) focuses on research, patient support, education, empowerment, awareness and advocacy, giving patients and families a road map to guide them and a support system to anchor them. It was founded by Bonnie Addario, an 11-year lung cancer survivor. Her foundation is one of the largest patient-driven philanthropies nationwide devoted exclusively to the eradication of lung cancer through research awareness, education, early detection and treatment. ACLF works with diverse partners, physicians, organizations, industry partner, thought leaders, survivors and their families. Since its founding as a 501c3 ALCF has raised more than $10 million dollars for Lung Cancer research, patient services and awareness.