It was an emotional day for the organizers of the annual 5K fundraiser walk to support the North Fork Breast Health Coalition yesterday at Tanger Outlets.
The walk was dedicated to the coalition’s president, Pearl Philendas, who died suddenly last month at age 72.
The board of the North Fork Breast Health Coalition dedicated yesterday’s walk to their fallen leader’s memory.
“For those of you who knew Pearl, you knew of her tireless commitment, of her gentle yet persuasive character, and her resolve to see men and women diagnosed with breast cancer get the services they need, sometimes very desperately, to enable them to fight the fight,” Tanger Outlets general manager Janine Nebons told the crowd of 300 walkers and their supporters gathered outside the mall office before the start of the race.
“Pearl possessed a backbone of steel,” Nebons continued in her opening remarks. “She left a big handprint on the organization and her legacy will live on for many years to come. We dedicate today to celebrate Pearl’s magnificent achievements and…[we] know she is walking alongside each and every one of us today. She’d be asking us embrace her spirit and determination and celebrate the joy of this beautiful morning in September together.”
Philenas’ children and grandson were on hand for the walk, which her daughter Connie and her husband Neal Morazan led.
State Senator Ken LaValle, who has attended every Tanger 5K walk since its inception, told the crowd that community support for the coalition and the fight against breast cancer is critically important.
“We are, every week and every month, succeeding in producing another drug that is extending a person’s life,” LaValle said. “We are making advances dealing with this tough adversary. Your support and presence here makes a difference.”
The 300 walk participants raised $18,000 and a raffle raised an estimated $4,000 more, Nebons said yesterday after the event concluded.
Participants included breast cancer survivors, who wore pink corsages and their supporters, as well as friends and family members of survivors and those who lost their lives to the diseases, which causes about 40,000 deaths nationwide every year. Breast cancer mortality rates have declined greatly since the 1980s due to improved screening for early detection and improved treatments.
“I lost my sister at a very young age to breast cancer,” Nebons said. “She would be tickled pink to see how this has grown,” she said.
“In our local community there are a lot of people that don’t have access to support services. The North Fork Breast Health Coalition takes every single penny and puts it back to lend a helping hand to real people with real problems. When someone’s really sick and they need their house cleaned or they need someone to go to the grocery store for them,
these ladies are there doing it for them,” Nebons said. “They are the unsung heroes in this battle.”
The North Fork Breast Health Coalition provides financial assistance, support groups and services like yoga, reflexology and massage therapy.
