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Partners in change

Cancer institute Gala for Life pulls in $700,000

— “Changes can’t just occur in the laboratory. They need human participation.”

That was the word of encouragement or admonishment from Dr. Peter Emanuel, director of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, to the crowd at the 16th annual Gala for Life.

He was referring to the dearth of American cancer patients - 5 percent - who sign up to participate in clinical trials, but he knew his audience.

Here was a group of 600-700 people at a $500-per-plate fund-raising gala. In a few moments, Kool and the Gang was to take the stage. Someone had just put up $20,000 to take two kids with leukemia on a private jet to a Cowboys game in Dallas with Jerry Jones. Had these galagoers done all that they can to fight cancer? Maybe. Maybe not. But they were participating. No one could say they weren’t part of the change outside of the institute that Emanuel says is just crucial.

Tickets, auctioneering and sponsorships that night raised close to $700,000. The institute directs the funds toward research and care.

High Profile, Pages 38 on 09/25/2011

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