All summer, we’re offering an exciting opportunity to show your love for SAA and win a $100 SwimOutlet.com gift card. Enter by tagging @saaswim and @swimoutlet in your photo from your swim and add the hashtag #SAASwimOutletto the caption and we’ll pick the best one. Grab your friends and family and show us the best the SAA community has to offer like these winners!
SAA Family Tree is a monthly focus on stories that display the impact all the members of the Swim Across America family have both locally and nationally. If you have a story or link you’d like to share, please send here.
Swim Across America is excited to celebrate our 31st year with a Swim Across America-branded backpack for all participants that hit the WaveMaker fundraising goal.
This is your chance to go the extra mile and join the exclusive WaveMaker club to show your SAA pride year-round. Featuring a timeless design, the official 2018 WaveMaker backpack offers functionality and style including a laptop sleeve and tons of storage compartments for all your needs. Don’t forget to show your SAA swagwith buttons available for the first time. Register today and set your fundraising goal to WaveMaker!
Other highlights of the backpack include:
Large, zippered main compartment
Interior multi-function organizer sized to fit up to an iPhone 6S plus
Easy access padded laptop pocket (fits up to a 15” laptop)
Front zippered pocket to store a tablet (fits up to a 10” tablet with a case)
Dual elastic water bottle pockets
Padded, adjustable shoulder straps
Neoprene top grab handle
Sport mesh padded back panels for cool and dry comfort
Swim Across America is making fundraising easier through social media!
You can now link your Swim Across America fundraising page directly with Facebook. Once you register for your SAA charity swim, you can directly link your personal Swim Across America fundraising page to Facebook. You’ll be able to easily spread the word, collect donations and track your progress on Facebook. All donations through Facebook will be received by SAA and reflected in your fundraising thermometer!
How To Connect Your Fundraiser to Facebook:
1. Log in to your participant center.
2. Click on MY EVENTS in the top menu and choose the event(s) you’d like to connect.
3. In the middle of the page, click ‘Connect to Facebook Fundraisers.’
3. You will be redirected to Facebook to enter your login information.
4. Success! After you connect your Facebook profile, you can view your fundraiser. Click on “Go to Facebook Fundraiser.”
5. If you’d like, edit your fundraising information and details specific to your participation.
6. Promote your fundraiser by sharing a post on your timeline or inviting friends and family to your fundraising page.
This new Facebook integration allows you to spread the word of your fundraising efforts and reach more people quicker and easier then ever before. For questions about using fundraisers on Facebook scroll down to the bottom part of our FAQ page.
Swim Across America, a 501(c)3 that hosts charity swims with a purpose of granting the proceeds to fund cancer research, is pleased to announce it is awarding a $50,000 grant to Dr. Robyn Gartrell of Columbia University Medical Center and a $50,000 grant to Dr. Julie Saba of UC Children’s Hospital Oakland. The awarding of these two grants is a result of additional fundraising that was received in 2017 and is in addition to the $4,891,422 that SAA awarded for 2018 to its beneficiaries.
Since it’s founding in 1987, SAA charity swims have funded more than $75 million to cancer research. SAA grant researchers have developed multiple FDA approved immunotherapies, gene therapy and personalized therapy treatments. Over 1.6 million Americans are diagnosed with cancer every year. Because of SAA grants, oncologists have been able to conduct research that otherwise wouldn’t have been funded and more families have hope in the fight against cancer.
Dr. Robyn Gartrell at SAA–Long Island
Dr. Gartrell will use her grant to study childhood brain tumors, including high-grade glioma (HGG), the most aggressive type of brain cancer in children. New treatment methods using the immune system, called immunotherapies, offer promise for helping to treat HGG in children. Dr. Gartrell’s team will study specific immune cells in and around HGG to determine the best approach in applying immunotherapy to this devastating disease.
Dr. Julie Saba at SAA–San Francisco
Dr. Saba will use her grant to study a cancer-related gene (AF1q) first identified in an infant with leukemia. Some types of cancers have high AF1q levels, and patient outcomes are worse in AF1q-positive tumors and leukemia. Scientists have concluded that AF1q is a “genetic driver” of cancer. The proposed project and SAA grant funding will compare the protein profiles on the surface of cancer cells either containing or lacking AF1q. By doing so, Dr. Saba expects to identify proteins that act as surrogate markers of AF1q expression that could be targeted by immune therapy. It is hoped that this study will move closer to developing a cure for cancers in which AF1q is a genetic driver.
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.
Swim Across America accepts stock, mutual and index fund donations. As long as you’ve held a stock, mutual or index fund for 12-months, these donations aren’t subject to gains on the appreciation from when you purchased. SAA sells the stock, mutual or index funds once we receive it and the proceeds are applied per your donation wishes. We will provide you with a donation acknowledgment so that your tax advisor can help you with the valuation and deductibility of your gift.
For more information on donating stock, mutual and index funds contact SAA CEO Rob Butcher or phone 980-368-0188.
Swim Across America is excited to announce its 2018 open water schedule. After a record-setting 2017 that saw $4.8 million granted to cancer research, SAA will be expanding to 18 full-scale open water charity swims. Denver and Richmond join the fold as new swims and Charleston-Kiawah will expand from its original clinic/short-distance concept. Check out the schedule below, register and help SAA #makewaves to fight cancer in 2018! Direct link is here.
(L-R):Olympian Rowdy Gaines, Olympian Craig Beardsley, SAA CEO Rob Butcher, Olympian Heather Petri, Olympian Steve Lundquist, Olympian Janel Jorgensen McArdle, SAA Board Chair Hugh Curran, Olympian Ryan Berube, Merck Global PR Director Claire Mulhearn, Olympian Eric Wunderlich, Merck Oncology Marketing Director Jennifer Faikish, and Olympian George DiCarlo.
Merck announced at Swim Across America’s Champions Against Cancer that the company is making a $3 million charitable contribution to Swim Across America. Established 30 years ago, Swim Across America, a national nonprofit organization, was founded with the purpose of granting the proceeds from its benefit swims to fund cancer research and clinical trials.
“Every 15 minutes, 50 Americans are diagnosed with cancer,” commented Rob Butcher, CEO of Swim Across America. “The good news is that more Americans are becoming survivors than ever before, and Swim Across America’s commitment to finding new cures and treatments has been an important catalyst for that progress. We are going to apply Merck’s contribution to better support our existing benefit swims and add new ones with a goal of funding $100 million into cancer research and clinical trials in the next decade.”
“Merck is committed to advancing research and to giving more families hope in the fight against cancer, and we know that that progress can only come from many people and organizations doing their part,” said Jill DeSimone, Senior Vice President, U.S. Oncology at Merck. “Swim Across America has created a program that has inspired thousands of Americans, including many Merck employees, to participate in their benefit swims with the proceeds funding cancer research and clinical trials. We know this contribution will help them do even more to fight cancer.”
“I was at our first swim when we raised $5,000,” commented Craig Beardsley, a 1980 Olympian and Swim Across America supporter of 30 years. “The Swim Across America mission is a testimony to the human spirit of coming together to try to solve a problem that has affected nearly everyone. Merck’s contribution is going to allow us to speed up our ability to add more swims so we can fund even more research projects.”
Since its inception, Swim Across America has granted $70 million toward cancer research and its grant funding has played a major role in the development of four FDA-approved cancer treatments. More than 100 Olympians have donated their time attending Swim Across America benefit swims and hospital visits.
Swim Across America hosts benefit swims in Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Greenwich, Kiawah, Long Island, Nantucket, Rhode Island, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis and Tampa.
Tax-deductible donations to Swim Across America may be made online. Please phone 980-237-9127 or email Rob Butcher to discuss a bequest or naming Swim Across America in your estate planning.
Photo (L-R): Olympian Rowdy Gaines, Olympian Craig Beardsley, SAA CEO Rob Butcher, Olympian Heather Petri, Olympian Steve Lundquist, Olympian Janel McArdle, SAA Board Chair Hugh Curran, Olympian Ryan Berube, Merck Global PR Director Claire Mulhearn, Olympian Eric Wunderlich, Merck Oncology Marketing Director Jennifer Faikish, Olympian George DiCarlo.
We appreciate the support of Olympians who have donated their time to support the SAA cause in 2017. These Olympians have attended our swims and special events generating awareness and raising donations for our beneficiaries. Thanks for all you do for SAA!
SWIM ACROSS AMERICA – SMAC OUT CANCER POOL SWIM
Olympian attendees included Mike Bruner, Susan Heon-Preston, Mark Preston, Ellen Estes, Emily Silver, Dana Kirk, Craig Beardsley
SWIM ACROSS AMERICA – BOSTON
Janel Jorgensen McArdle, Heather Petri and Kristy Kowal participate in beneficiary visit
SWIM ACROSS AMERICA – MUDPUPPIES MEMORIAL POOL SWIM
Ryan Held joined the popular pool swim at Triangle Aquatic Center
SWIM ACROSS AMERICA – KIAWAH ISLAND
Carlton Bruner, Ashley Whitney & Steve Lundquist pose with a youth swimmer
SWIM ACROSS AMERICA – CHICAGO
Kendra Berner Yoch, Katherine Starr, Jilen Siroky Bouwer and Tom Beeri
SAA – LONG ISLAND SOUND (NYAC TRAVERS ISLAND POOL SWIM)
Kim Vandenberg gives a swim clinic
SWIM ACROSS AMERICA – NANTUCKET
Samantha Arsenault Livingstone with junior WaveMakers
SWIM ACROSS AMERICA – ST. LOUIS
Kara Lynn Joyce with a fan
SWIM ACROSS AMERICA – RHODE ISLAND
Craig Beardsley, Rhode Islander Elizabeth Beisel, Alex Meyer, and Clara Walker
Ricky Berens and family all participated in the inaugural event
SWIM ACROSS AMERICA – ATLANTA
Craig Beardsley, Carlton Bruner, Nei-Kuan Chia, Missy Franklin, Geoff Gaberino, Doug Gjertsen, Joe Hudepohl, Kristy Kowal, Steve Lundquist, Megan Neyer, Heather Petri, Daniel Watters, Amanda Weir, Eric Wunderlich and Ashley Whitney all joined the SAA – Atlanta fun in 2017
SWIM ACROSS AMERICA – DALLAS
Ryan Berube and our SAA – Dallas mascot sporting gold
Swim Across America accepts stock, mutual and index fund donations. As long as you’ve held a stock, mutual or index fund for 12-months, these donations aren’t subject to gains on the appreciation from when you purchased. SAA sells the stock, mutual or index funds once we receive it and the proceeds are applied per your donation wishes. We will provide you with a donation acknowledgment so that your tax advisor can help you with the valuation and deductibility of your gift.
Swim Across America 