Annual Raveis Ride + Walk Fundraiser In Norwalk Sept. 29

WRCF: The William Raveis Charitable Fund (WRCF) is pleased to announce the annual Raveis Ride + Walk fundraiser is scheduled for Sunday, September 29 at Calf Pasture Beach in Norwalk. The proceeds from this family-friendly event benefit the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, which funds the most promising scientists conducting cutting-edge research to find a cure for cancer. The Ride + Walk includes a 5K walk, a 12-mile, 25-mile and 50-mile bike ride, and a children’s 100-yard dash. Tony Award-winning Broadway, television and film actor James Naughton will serve as Master of Ceremonies. Registration is open at raveisridewalk.com.

“This is our fifth year of the Raveis Ride + Walk, and every year I am astounded at our generous community of friends, family and colleagues who want to make a difference,” said Meghan Raveis, the managing director of the WRCF. “Not one person can cure cancer. But together, we can all play a part in raising much-needed funds for these rising star scientists who will someday, hopefully in our children’s lifetime, cure cancer.”

One hundred percent of the event donations will go to Damon Runyon, which identifies the brightest early-career scientists with innovative research ideas and provides them with funding to pursue new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat all forms of cancer. Since 2015, the Ride + Walk has raised more than $2 million, which has been granted to 16 young scientists who are researching eight different types of cancer. Last year, in 2018, more than 650 people participated and volunteered in the Ride + Walk, raising more than $600,000. For the Raveis family, like many families touched by cancer, this quest for a cure is painfully personal. Meghan and Ryan Raveis’ sister-in-law, Jennifer Cavanaugh, a 36-year-old mother of three young boys, has been fighting breast cancer for the last year-and-a-half. At this year’s event, she will share her story of her diagnosis and treatment for an aggressive form of breast cancer, HER2+ / ER and PR-. Ten years ago, if someone had been diagnosed with HER2, doctors would discuss how to manage the diagnosis or how to keep the patient comfortable. Now, it’s different: Thanks to cutting edge research that the Damon Runyon has funded, scientists have discovered new treatments for patients like Cavanaugh. “As a cancer patient myself, the research we're funding gives me hope,” she said. “Thanks to cutting edge research, I have the best treatment plans, the best medicine and the best doctors available. Most importantly, at the end of it all, I have a second chance at living a long, healthy life.”

Participants can register for the event now at raveisridewalk.com. The web site also includes fundraising tips and tools, information about the scientists, and photos and videos from 2018. The minimum fundraising amount for adults is $250 for the walk, 12-mile and 25-mile rides and $400 for the 50-mile ride. Minors under 17 must be accompanied by an adult and have a $25
fundraising minimum. “Our company doesn’t believe in the status quo. It’s in our Raveis DNA to be innovative and tosupport innovation on every level,” said Ryan Raveis, co-president of William Raveis Real Estate, Mortgage & Insurance. “That’s why we chose to support the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, an organization that funds high-risk, high-reward cancer research. They identify and invest in young scientists who are brilliant, brave and bold enough to push the boundaries of traditional thinking and break rules.”

Since 1946, Damon Runyon has invested nearly $375 million in more than 3,750 of the best and brightest scientists in the nation. These promising scientists have gone on to make breakthrough discoveries that have transformed the understanding of cancer and develop new approaches to prevention, diagnosis and treatment of all forms of this disease. Twelve Damon

Runyon scientists have received the Nobel Prize; and 79 have been elected to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences.