Leading up to the 7th Annual TargetCancer Foundation Gala, we will be sharing stories and perspectives on the gala from the many people who make up the TargetCancer Foundation community.
The post below is from Jamie Dickerson and Zach Fields, Project Analysts at the law firm Mintz Levin in Boston. Since the first gala in 2010, the Mintz Levin Project Analyst team has been a critical part of planning each gala, and developing it into the large scale event that it is today. Jamie and Zach are pictured above at the 2015 TargetCancer Foundation Gala.
“We are Zach Fields and Jamie Dickerson, and we got our start with TargetCancer not as patients, affected family members, or even researchers, but as recent college graduates doing volunteer work for the Annual TargetCancer Foundation Gala at Fenway Park. Every week, we had the chance to drop what we were doing at the law firm for which we worked—Mintz Levin—and to spend time contacting local businesses, hotels, restaurants, and more about auction-item donations and sponsorships for the Gala.
What we learned very quickly is that it doesn’t take a million dollars to make a difference. With relatively small item donations for the auction, we were able to create auction packages which collectively raised critically important funds for continued research. From “Date Night” packages with a stay at the Mandarin Oriental and dinner at the best restaurants in Boston, to “Getaway Weekends” to Disneyland, Cape Cod, and white water rafting in Maine, to sports tickets and spa packages, the items at auction were central to the way that TargetCancer raised its funds.
What started as a volunteer assignment through the Project Analyst program at Mintz Levin quickly became a labor of love. In fighting day after day to combat deadly rare cancers with research funding patients and the medical community so desperately needs, TargetCancer is an emblem not of the world as it is, but as it should be—making the kind of ground-level, high-impact differences that can dramatically alter lives, families, and communities.
Last year, in conjunction with direct sponsorship and other donations, the Gala raised more than $235,000: funds which are being used to combat cancers just like cholangiocarcinoma, continuing Paul’s mission since those early days of 2009, so that patients diagnosed today can have real treatment options—can have hope.
We hope you’ll join us for the Gala at Fenway Park on November 17th this year—we’ll both be back, and we’re counting on folks like you to spread the word about ticket sales and auction item donations. If we’re in this together, we can step up to the plate to make the kind of change we want to see in the world.”