May 19, 2008 

Dear Friends, Family & Supporters: 

As we all know health care costs are on the rise, paying for prescription  drugs and co-payments are also expensive when you are going to the Dr.’s even once a week, living through this past year helping these families, and being a part of their lives strengthens my belief that our foundation is doing something that is desperately needed. 

Another year has passed and our Foundation has been busy continuing its mission of providing aide and sustenance to women and their families suffering from Breast Cancer.  We had a great year in 2007.  We gave away over $10,000.00 to four different women and their families and our annual donation to Deacon Sands to help the families of Ridgewood. 

Our first woman is a single mother of four and needed the money to pay for an ultrasound to see if her breast cancer had returned.  She had no health insurance and could not afford the test.  She and her family were so very grateful that I received a big shout from them all when her test result came back negative. 

Our second woman was also a single mother who at the age of 33 was diagnosed with IBC.  We started helping her last year with medical bills while also sending gift cards for gas and food.  While she was in the nursing home towards the end of her fight, we in conjunction with the local YMCA, paid for her son to go to camp everyday so that she didn’t have to worry about him.  His grandmother (only support) took him everyday once his mother was hospitalized for the last time.  She passed away last August at the age of 38 years old.  She called us her Angels on Earth.

Our third woman was a feisty older woman who had been diagnosed with IBC.  She came to us through our connection with North Shore Hospital.  She needed transportation to and from the hospital for 8 weeks.  She was thrilled knowing that she never had to worry about how she was going to get to her treatments.   On her last day, she called me and said “Hello Ms. Donna-----I always smiled hearing her voice especially when she told me that she took the radiation technician and danced with him in the room after her last treatment.  We still help her on occasion if she needs transportation to the doctor’s office. 

Our fourth woman is a married, working woman who has a small daughter in third grade.  Together the husband and wife were fine but when you take away one salary things were tight.  We helped them with their Cobra payments so that they did not have to worry about any lapse in their insurance coverage, which paid for all of her and her family’s medical bills.

During this time we also applied for and received, our Non-Profit status called 501 (c) 3 which gives us the opportunity to go to large companies and ask for grants and receive lower rates on advertising and such.  We received one grant already and are waiting for the grant from Senator Maltese to come through. 

we were able to donate about 40 wigs to the Robert Wood Johnson Breast Cancer Center  thanks to a man who’s wife had passed who loved wigs.  He wanted to help other people with her things sohe called me and we met and he gave me all of her wigs, there were about four bags full. half went to RWJ and the other half will go to North Shore Hospital in Manhasset.

As a foundation, we would not have been able to do any of this without your support and donations.  We are now in our third year because you have all made it possible.  I cannot thank our wonderful volunteers and sponsors enough for all of their help I can only remind them of what a great job they are doing for such a great cause and they should always remember that. 

Kathy’s law firm Lester, Schwab, Katz & Dwyer is busy doing Kathy’s Jeans Day at least three times a year.  We cannot thank them enough for that.  All of her friends at work get to honor Kathy in the best way possible----dressing down in her favorite attire, while also making money to help support the foundation and the families we help. 

Thanks to Harriet Delsener at LIVE NATION, we will be taking the Foundation out to Jones Beach on August 19, 2008 for the Rod Stewart concert to help educate women regarding early detection and the importance of self-breast exam.  Most women know about it but do not do it.  A survey done by Susie B. Komen shows that breast cancer is the leading cause of death for women 20-39 because they do not believe they are at risk.  That is why we take our self- breast exam cards to all of our Fundraisers. 

We will have our Annual walk in October so I look forward to seeing you all then.  (More on that later) 

On behalf of my fellow board members and myself, I would like to thank all of you so much for your continued support so that we are able to help women while they are fighting breast cancer.

Sincerely,

Donna Hall

Founder/Director

The Kathy Tugaw Breast Cancer Foundation

TKTBCF@comcast.net

1-866-485-8223

www.kathytugawbreastcancer.org