This charity has more steps to take.
More than 2,500 big-hearted Brooklynites paraded through Prospect Park on Sept. 9 for the ninth-annual Teal Walk and Run, a fund-raiser that promotes ovarian-cancer awareness. But organizers — who raked in $164,000 at the event — fell short of reaching their September fund-raising goal, and said failure to fill the gap will leave women vulnerable to the deadly illness.
“It is a matter of life and death,” said Pamela Esposito-Amery, founder of the Brooklyn-based charity that hosts the fund-raiser. “We don’t just service people who are already affected, we do lectures at schools and hospitals, and we educate people to get to the doctor sooner. It really does save lives.”
Esposito-Amery began Teal — which stands for Tell Every Amazing Lady About Ovarian Cancer — in 2009 with her sister Louisa McGregor after her sibling contracted ovarian cancer, which ultimately claimed her life in 2011.
The 5k in Brooklyn’s Backyard draws hundreds of runners and thousands of walkers each year. It raises money to benefit cancer research, fund educational programs to help women catch the disease early, and aid survivors and their caretakers.
But this year’s walk and run failed to reach the charity’s monthly fund-raising goal of $250,000 — a sum it collected at the 2016 event — and Esposito-Amery is urging locals to visit Teal’s website, where they can donate a few bucks to help ensure the charity continues its fight against the fatal cancer.
“If we can’t meet our goal, programs will be cut, educational materials won’t get printed, and staffers will have to be let go for lack of funding,” she said. “We would reach less people, and save less lives.”
