Last Sunday (August 18) 60 Team JAF runners lined up at the start of the 47th Annual New Balance Falmouth Road Race, donning Joe Andruzzi Foundation singlets for the 7-mile, scenic Cape Cod race.
For many of the runners, their Team JAF Falmouth Road Race journeys started long before the seaside race. Months of training and fundraising fueled the team throughout the summer, and we’re thrilled to report that the team’s collective 2019 Falmouth Road Race efforts have raised over $115,000 for JAF in support of the New England cancer patients and families we serve.
Thanks to these efforts, JAF will be able to relieve financial distress for more than 340 cancer patients and their family members in the coming months:
- Approximately 190 families who will receive financial assistance will use the funds to stabilize their housing situation (mortgage, rent and taxes) to help ensure they stay in their home during treatment.
- More than 25 cancer patients will have their auto expenses covered by a JAF grant, so they can have reliable transportation to get to their treatment appointments.
- 25% of the families will use their grant assistance to help with utilities, to keep their lights and heat on.
Truly amazing.
It’s hard to fathom this was our eighth consecutive year fielding a charity team for the event – it feels like it was just yesterday that we ran our first ‘Falmouth’, and each year just keeps getting better and better. Since 2012, hundreds of Team JAF Falmouth Road Race runners have raised more than $800,000 to help fulfill our mission and allow patients to focus on the things that really matter during treatment.
To our incredible runners: please know that there is nothing more selfless in life than sacrificing time, money, and sweat for a greater purpose, and we can’t thank you enough for everything you have done to represent our mission over the past few months.
A special shout out is in order for our top five fundraisers who went above and beyond the minimum donation: Jen Andruzzi, EJ Whelan, Erin DeStefano, Kristin Pitman, and Jeff Groves. We also want to recognize our top five fastest runners who pushed themselves to the limit in support of JAF’s mission: Sarah Jane O’Connor (47:50), Dipak Panigrahy (55:16), Marina Proietti (57:23…with a fractured foot!), Ariana Leblanc (58:16), and Jack Wheeler (59:19).
After the race, we once again gathered at the Kelley Family’s beautiful home for a backyard celebratory barbecue – a tradition started years ago, and one we can’t thank the Kelley Family enough for hosting year after year. There, our runners were joined by their families and friends to decompress and celebrate all of Team JAF’s accomplishments.
And so many of those accomplishments would not have been possible if not for some incredible partners and supporters, including: Falmouth Road Race’s staff and volunteers, for another flawlessly run event; FRR’s Numbers for Nonprofits Program, for granting JAF bibs for the race; New Balance, for making the team look good out on the course; our Team JAF cheer groups who lined the race course throughout the day, giving our runners an extra boost as they zipped by; and everyone who helped put the post-race party together, including Patty Kelley and the Kelley Family, the Sausage Guy, Cavossa Disposal, Busy Bee Jumpers & Tents, United Site Services, Wines and More, Pepsi Co, and Core Water, as well as JAF’s amazing staff, board, and volunteers. We can’t thank you all enough!
And, of course, we want to thank Team JAF’s remarkable community of donors who supported the campaigns of our Falmouth athletes. Your generosity makes a direct impact in the lives of those battling cancer throughout New England, and we hope that is something you take great pride in knowing.
If you are still interested in making a contribution to Team JAF or an individual runner, all fundraising pages will be accepting donations through Friday, September 27, 2019, through Crowdrise.com here.
And, once more to our runners – and certainly not the last time you’ll hear us say it – THANK YOU for your commitment to our mission. We can’t wait to see you all cross the finish line again in 2020!