For the fifth year in a row, Circle 1000 raised more than $1 million to help patient care at Hoag Family Cancer Institute.
About 450 attended the group’s 25th Annual Founders’ Brunch held at the Island Hotel near Fashion Island on April 25 to celebrate.
“It is a really wonderful, warm-hearted and special event,” said Circle 1000 Chair Pame Schmider. “The generosity of our members year after year is simply remarkable.”
A highlight of the event was Taylor Carol, 17, from Dana Hills High School. Carol, a cancer survivor, performed a rendition of the song “The Impossible Dream.”
The featured guest speaker Alan Hobson, a long-term cancer survivor, noted adventure speaker, Mt. Everest summiteer and co-creator of “The Climb Back From Cancer Program.”
“He is upbeat and inspirational,” Schmider said. He has a grasp as to what’s important for someone who is fighting cancer.”
Hobson drew parallels between climbing both physical mountains and the mountain of fighting and overcoming cancer.
In 1997, Hobson reached the summit of Mt. Everest. Three years later, he was diagnosed with acute leukemia. About 90 percent of the cells in his bone marrow were cancerous. He was given less than a year to live.
After enduring more than 500 hours of chemotherapy and a successful blood stem cell transplant from his brother, Hobson “climbed back” from the disease.
“Climbing actual mountains gave me a much stronger understanding of what it takes to get to the top,” he said. “There is always a cause for hope. Circle 1000 provides people facing cancer with that hope. If we are persistent enough, we can live our dreams.”
Just as climbing a mountain takes the right gear and equipment, Schmider said, fighting cancer does too.
For 25 years Circle 1000 has been fundraising for new equipment, technology, programs, services and training for the cancer institute’s medical team. Their funds have helped pay for new cell biology labs, oncology nursing programs and scholarships and endowments for cancer research, among others.
Since it was founded in 1987, members have raised more than $13.5 million.
“To be perfectly honest, Circle 1000 has grown and succeeded beyond anything I would have thought possible when I began it 25 years ago,” said founder and breast cancer survivor, Sandy Sewell of Newport Beach. “My approach was really quite modest – I asked a few of my friends to contribute at least $1,000, and to invite others to join in. What started as a small effort among close friends quickly spread to include over 1,000 incredibly generous women and men. I’ve learned over the past 25 years that you should never underestimate people’s inherent kindness and compassion, and their willingness to help others in need.”
The volunteer committee is comprised of just 26 women, who hand-write the letters to the underwriters in the fall, the one and only time they ask for money during the entire year, there are no other fundraising events, Schmider said.
And they only meet four times a year, she added, including the brunch event.
“It’s a very unique group,” she said. “It’s almost like a family.”
The volunteer committee is comprised of a variety of women, Schmider said, including philanthropists, businesswomen, and women connected to the hospital.
“The amount that they raise is unbelievable,” she said. “They’re making a difference in cancer care in our community, in our back yard
