Making Waves to Fight Cancer since 1987
Unsafe ocean conditions moved SAA – Tampa to the indoor pool. The event still made waves for Moffitt Cancer Center and raise over $200,000 to fight cancer and hit the $1 million cumulative fundraising mark.
Enjoy video from the event below and thanks to all participants, volunteers and donors for helping achieve such an impressive total! See everyone at Clearwater Beach in 2018!
The Swim Across America – Charlotte swim held its kickoff event at Levine Cancer Institute on April 6th. The Charlotte swim community, including USA Swimming Women’s Coach David Marsh, learned about the SAA mission from LCI doctors and researchers as well as cancer survivors including collegiate swimmer Alex Marshall.
Marshall, a swimmer at Queens College, was recently featured on CNN for her courageous battle to get back in the pool.
The inaugural Charlotte open water swim is September 23rd at the Lake Norman YMCA. Spread the word and register a team today!
FINIS is celebrating SAAs 30th anniversary by offering a $30 gift card to all WaveMakers. WaveMakers are fundraisers that generate $1,000 in donations. In 2016, there were 1,300 WaveMakers so FINIS is donating $39,000 in gift cards. The cards will be handed onsite to WaveMakers during check in for your swim. This is just one of the perks of being a WaveMaker in 2017! Get registered now and aim high for WaveMaker recognition!
In Pool Swims Across America, we feature local pool swims that raise awareness for cancer research. If you’re interested in getting your local swim team or pool involved, learn more here.
Ranney Panthers Swim for a Cure (Feb 18th) — Tinton Falls, NJ
Led by junior Matthew Chang, the Ranney Panthers Swim for a Cure raised $3,500.
THANKSwimming FOR A CURE Pool Swim (Feb 26th) — New York, NY
Matthew Lipton raised over $5,000 for his Mitzvah project and continued the pool swim tradition that his sister started 6 years ago in memory of their grandmother.
A dream come true – A promise kept – An incredible journey
Patty Brummet is preparing for her third bike trek across the United States to support Swim Across America. Her journey of 3,160 miles begins March 5 in San Diego and ends on May 2 in St. Augustine, FL. The fight to cure cancer inspires her dream to bike America.
Patty waited until she was retired to start chasing her lifelong dream of biking across America. After a hiatus in 2016 due to a training accident, Patty is back to complete this feat a third time to benefit SAA – Chicago and Rush University Cancer Center.
She rides with a special jersey with names on the back to remember and honor cancer patients which she began compiling in 2014. “In 2015 I added 50 more names. In 2016 I added 31 more names. I wore this jersey on the most challenging days,” Patty wrote.
A swimmer as well, this is Patty’s 13th year participating in SAA – Chicago. She has personally raised over $81,000 for cancer research, prevention, and treatment and has a goal of $15,000 in 2017 (as of March 6, Patty has raised $13,481).
If you’re inspired by Patty Brummet’s ride, you can donate here or follow her adventure through her personal blog.
2017 will mark SAA – Long Island Sound’s 25th year raising money to fight cancer through research, as well as provide for those who are going through treatment. We give thanks to all of you who have partnered with us throughout the years to make this event such a success. Below is a compilation of all historical photos, videos and flyers. We hope you’ll join us again this year to celebrate our 25th Anniversary. All historical photo albums can be found here.
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2017 Captain’s Dinner Kickoff
Swim Across America celebrated the end of the year across the country by presenting checks to our esteemed beneficiaries. Here is a collection of smiling faces as the hard fundraising work is now seeing its impact multiplied in the fight against cancer.
The following was shared by Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.
In the past few years, immunotherapy has produced unprecedented breakthroughs in cancer research. SCCA’s Swim Across America Cell Therapy Laboratory (SAA-CTL) is at the leading edge of this work and SAA-Seattle funding has been critical in supporting the clinical trials that bring this research to patients. SAA-Seattle grants allow us to train technologists in the theory and practice of complex cell processing methods and helps provide sophisticated instrumentation required for these methods. An example of our SAA-Seattle funded research is the Chimeric Antigen T Cell Receptor (CAR T) immunotherapy, which involves selecting and genetically modifying certain lymphocytes to be able to recognize and kill tumor cells. In 2014, SAA-Seattle grants enabled us to initiate the first CAR T clinical trial at SCCA. This trial has produced remarkable results: the complete remission (CR) rate in refractory (unresponsive to other therapies) B Cell Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia was 94% and the CR rate in refractory Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma was 64%. This profound success allowed additional patients to be treated, including 35 new patients in 2016. Three more trials using similar technology are beginning in 2017.
SAA-Seattle has played a vital role in supporting groundbreaking research at SCCA. Thanks to SAA-Seattle funding, we have become a center of excellence for selecting particular cells that contribute to an “anti-cancer” effect while removing the other cells (naïve T lymphocytes) that can cause graft vs host disease. This concept has been a sort of holy grail for the treatment of hematological malignancies (certain types of leukemia) through transplantation and trials supported by SAA-Seattle funds have shown extraordinary results. These naïve T cell depletion and CAR T study results have been published in top tier journals.
We hope you’ll join us this September 9th at the 2017 SAA – Seattle open water swim to ‘Make Waves to Fight Cancer.’
The Team Suffolk Pool Swim to Fight Cancer just had another incredible year, raising almost $50,000. The swim started in 2011, and leaders have done a great job passing on the baton to keep this SAA – Nassau-Suffolk event growing. The Lennon Family has been taking the lead the past few years and Kelly Lennon was recognized by the Huntington Town Board this year (see more below). Over the last 5 years Team Suffolk has raised more than $200,000.
Thanks to the Team Suffolk coaches (John and Frank) for embracing the event, supporting it and welcoming it as a chance for their community to come together and see their team show strength and support to family members or swimmers who might be battling cancer.
On Wednesday, Dec 7th Councilwoman Susan Berland and the Huntington Town Board presented Kelly Lennon with a proclamation for her efforts organizing Team Suffolk’s annual Swim Across America Pool Swim. Kelly has participated in each event, and was the team organizer the last two years. Kelly has personally raised over $35,000 for SAA. Kelly is an accomplished swimmer and will be attending SUNY Geneseo in the fall and swimming for Coach Paul Dotterweich and his BlueWave. Congrats Kelly!
Charlotte, NC – November 10, 2016 – By meeting key standards of board oversight, finances, results reporting and fundraising appeals, Swim Across America achieved accreditation by the BBB Wise Giving Alliance. This accreditation signifies that Swim Across America is deserving of donor trust as they are a well-run nonprofit organization.
“Our relationship with our donors is rooted in trust,” commented Rob Butcher, CEO of Swim Across America. “We initiated the process with BBB Wise Giving Alliance and are pleased to share that we meet the standard of non-profit excellence. We are proud to earn the ability to display the BBB accreditation seal.”
The BBB Wise Giving Alliance (BBB WGA) is the nation’s only comprehensive charity evaluator, assisting donors in making sound giving decisions. Donors know they can trust a charity if it is accredited by the BBB WGA. Their broad standards go beyond what the law requires and dives deeper than other charity monitoring organizations. Each BBB WGA charity report process involves a rigorous review using 20 holistic BBB Charity Standards, interaction with charity officials about corrective actions needed to address deficiencies, and quality control measures to assure report accuracy. Thousands of charities have reports available to the public at Give.org.
“The public can be assured that every charity evaluation is completed with careful, objective analysis of charity information,” says Art Taylor, president and CEO of the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, “By achieving accreditation, Swim Across America has earned public trust having demonstrated its commitment to sound governance, transparency and achieving its mission.”
Swim Across America’s report can be viewed on the BBB Wise Giving Alliance website.
Swim Across America