December 8, 2000

Friends Fighting Breast Cancer presented a check for $75,000 Nov. 29 to Daniel Haber, MD, director of the Center for Cancer Risk Analysis at the MGH, at a special ceremony on Cox 1. The money represents proceeds from fundraising efforts for the year 2000 – a portion of which was raised in conjunction with Fabric Place and its five New England stores through the quilt-a-thon and quilt raffles at the MGH.

WBZ-TV entertainment reporter and ovarian cancer survivor Joyce Kulhawik joined the festivities and offered words of encouragement to the Friends Fighting Breast Cancerand MGH staff.

The group also donated 1,800 hats, turbans and scarves, hand-made by local community members, for women undergoing chemotherapy or radiation treatment at the MGH. Fabric Place contributed $5 for every hat collected at its annual Hat and Turban event, contributing $5,000 toward Friends Fighting Breast Cancer's fundraising goal. The hats serve as "ornaments" on a 7-foot tree donated and decorated by Fabric Place staff. Patients can choose hats, some of which include a special note of encouragement from the person who sewed and donated the hat.

Friends Fighting Breast Cancer is a volunteer, nonprofit group, co-founded in 1995 by Janet Connolly O'Neill, a breast cancer survivor and her neighbor and friend, Fran Gilardi. Its mission is to raise money to promote breast cancer awareness and early detection and enhance research efforts. Since its inception, the group has donated approximately $215,000 for breast cancer research at the Center for Cancer Risk Analysis at the MGH.