Dear AmericanTowns.com,

Thank you for being a part of our WCRC community!

As I reflect on this year, I am filled with gratitude and joy, and honored that we have been present to support those in our community who are facing cancer.

I am grateful to our Board of Directors, for their continued leadership; to our staff team, for supporting our clients with compassion; and to our volunteers, for showing up wherever needed to help us deliver our mission. I am also deeply grateful for our clients. We are honored to be able to support them during their time of need.

We have the most incredible group of supporters – individuals, families, local businesses, churches, foundations, and medical and community partners. 

Your continued generosity is vital to our organization. It sustains us. We would not be able to deliver our services without each of you. We are so grateful for your generosity, trust in us, and investment in our mission.

WCRC has continued to move forward with perseverance and strength through the pandemic. In January, our staff and board began work focused on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Sandhya Jha, of Without Fear Consulting, has been guiding us in this journey. The principles of Without Fear Consulting include engaging our history to understand our present and change our future, recognizing the power of relationship in our work of justice, deep accountability to people of color at every level of an organization, and creating room for joy.

Sandhya wrote, “That last one matters. Joy is a form of resistance. Joy is a form of survival….In your work to create healing and health in the face of radical gender, class and race inequities in our health system, [make] creating joy part of your work. It is what makes this work sustainable.”

We have safely hosted in-person activities in our Center during the past few months, including an art opening, and special programs for our Las Amigas and Sister to Sister groups. We have felt immeasurable joy coming together again in community. We continue to add classes and workshops to meet the diverse needs of those we serve.

WCRC continues to move programming into our hybrid model – with more classes returning on site in January 2023. We will offer virtual components for those who are unable to attend in person.

Thank you for believing in us and supporting our work in the community!

With gratitude,

Amy

Amy Alanes

Executive Director

Welcome Two New Board Members!

We are pleased to welcome two members to the WCRC Board of Directors!

Laura Chavaree is the founder of Calliopy Health and brings a wealth of experience in advancing the patient experience in healthcare and biotechnology industries. We are grateful she is lending her skills to our mission to improve equitable access to cancer support, information and care in the East Bay.

John Gouws works as the Executive Director, Genentech Finance. He first got involved with WCRC in 2016 through our Swim A Mile / Move A Mile for Women with Cancer, and later joined the event's volunteer planning committee. As a board member, John volunteers his deep knowledge of corporate finance and commitment to eliminating barriers to cancer care.

Read both of their full bios at www.wcrc.org/about-us/board/.

Las Amigas is Growing!

The pandemic has brought many changes and challenges to programs at WCRC over the last two and a half years and the Latina Program has had its fair share of them!

I am constantly reminded of how with change, great things can happen. At the beginning of the pandemic, most Spanish language clients had no idea what Zoom was! Many of them had not met anyone else that was dealing with cancer. They had no one that they could call on for advice and a friendly word. WCRC provided women who were isolated with the opportunity to join this new online world and connect with others. 

The group started with two people. It's continued to grow and thrive. It was dubbed Las Amigas by Amy when she would hear how excited I would be talk to her about mis amigas – my friends – after each and every session. The name, just like the group, took off! 

This September, we were able to bring in four amazing Latina presenters to talk about survivorship. It was a conference, completely in Spanish, open to anyone with a Zoom connection. It helped to provided attendees tools to identify survivorship, build their support networks and learn how to important it is to take care of health, mind and soul. 

In October we held our first in-person event at the Center for Las Amigas. Most of these women had never been to WCRC before and this was their first time meeting other amigas in-person. It included a grounding exercise via Zoom (the facilitator dialed in from Mexico!) We were able to share a meal and begin the creation of WCRC's Dia de Los Muertos altar. It was done with love, laughter and friendship made possible by an organization that has strived to let them know that they matter.

It's my extreme honor to be able to be a part of seeing this amazing program grow. I am excited to see what 2023 has in store for this group!

- Veronica Peinado, Intake Coordinator and Multicultural Navigator

Project Loving Life Supports

Sister to Sister Program

Miss Bobbie Wakefield, Founder of Project Loving Life, visited our Center last week with members of their Board of Directors and presented Dolores Moorehead, WCRC’s Community Engagement Director and Client Support Clinician, with an $8,000 donation! These funds will be used to support our Sister to Sister program’s annual retreat and other activities for the women in our program.

A few members of our Sister to Sister group were in attendance to thank Miss Bobbie and her Board for supporting them through their cancer journey.

WCRC is deeply grateful for Miss Bobbie, for her longstanding support of our Sister to Sister program and the mission of WCRC! 

Update on All-in for Women with Cancer

During Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we were beyond grateful to partner with area businesses and organizations through our All-in for Women with Cancer campaign! These partners went above and beyond to support Women’s Cancer Resource Center through fundraisers or outreach activities that took place throughout the month of October.

Enormous thanks to:

Michele Leopold and her extended Ace Hardware family at locations in the Laurel District of Oakland, Antioch, Pittsburg, and Oakley

- The Berkeley Police Department’s Community Services Bureau

- The Ecology Center

- IBX Fitness

- Laurel Burch Studios

- Jiaren Cafe

- Pamana Plantas

- Raven & Rose

- Sports Basement

In the JanRae Community Art Gallery

Closing Soon!

Repositories of Feelings: The Art of Carol Doyle

October 1 - December 20, 2022

Online on our website or by appointment. Contact [email protected] to schedule a visit.

100% of all sales will benefit WCRC's work.

Carol Doyle was an accomplished artist whose work was shown in numerous galleries and in the Developing Artists’ Gallery at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Arts. Carol practiced art as a painter, printmaker and teacher in the Bay Area until her death from inflammatory breast cancer in 2006. Her media included oil, relief prints, intaglio, needlework, and felt, all of which are represented at this show.