HOPE SHINES! New Day Foundation for Families to host Evening Under the Stars to benefit local families facing cancer

Join New Day Foundation for Families for HOPE SHINES: Evening Under the Stars Gala at Detroit’s iconic Eastern Market Shed 5, featuring an exquisite evening of cocktails, dining and dancing on Friday, Sept. 16, from 6 – 11 p.m. Hope will shine for families fighting cancer as community leaders, businesses, survivors, families touched by cancer, volunteers and donors join together to have a positive impact on treatment outcomes and survivorship for cancer patients and their families.

Guests will enjoy live music from Ben Sharkey, a strolling dinner featuring a farm-to-table menu, a coffee bar with dessert, silent and live auctions, raffles and a DJ for dancing. Master of Ceremonies Kevin Beers, Oakland University basketball announcer, will lead a brief program with guest speakers including WXYZ news anchor JoAnne Purtan; University of Michigan MOTT Children’s Hospital Pediatric Neuro-Oncologist Dr. Carl Koschmann; New Day Foundation Co-Founder and Executive Director Gina Kell Spehn and her 15-year-old son Sam Kell, who is currently undergoing treatment for brain cancer. The program will also feature a live performance from 17-year-old singer/songwriter Grace Elizabeth Lee, and a heartfelt message from cancer patient and New Day recipient Pastor Christopher Turner.

Tickets to the fundraising gala are $200 per person and a table of 10 is available for $2,000. A portion of all ticket purchases is tax deductible and sponsorship packages are available. As a gesture of support and guest appreciation, Birmingham portrait artist Marla Michele Must of Enchanted Photography will donate a free photography session to every guest, valued at $275 (limit one per household).

To purchase tickets, visit the New Day Foundation event webpage at https://www.foundationforfamilies.org/hope-shines. Free parking is available adjacent to Shed 5, or the parking deck is available for a fee. For more information, contact gina@newdayff.org.

“Crushing expenses, fear and stress do not discriminate when cancer strikes,” said Gina Kell Spehn, executive director and co-founder of New Day Foundation for Families. “Our programs reduce the devastating financial and emotional burdens that accompany a diagnosis. I know from personal experience that this kind of support can change everything for the better. Let’s celebrate our abundant blessings, live generously, and keep hope alive for families fighting cancer.”

Because the financial impact of a cancer diagnosis is almost as deadly as cancer itself, Kell Sphen said New Day works to alleviate both the financial toxicity and emotional burdens for families facing cancer. Due to the high cost of cancer, a health crisis can throw a family into bankruptcy or homelessness in just six months. Furthermore, according to recent studies, “cancer patients who go bankrupt are nearly 80 percent more likely to die than patients who don’t, and some cancers had significantly higher mortality rates.” (Journal of Clinical Oncology)

Michael Spehn and Gina Kell Spehn are the co-founders of New Day. Married in 2007 after each being widowed with young children, the legacies of their first spouses, Matt Kell and Cathy Spehn, who both died of cancer only six weeks apart, live on through New Day and are shared in their NY Times Bestselling book, The Color of Rain. This heartbreaking, yet hope-filled story of how two families found faith, hope and love in the midst of tragedy, is the catalyst behind New Day. In 2014, The Color of Rain was adapted for television and became the highest rated original movie in Hallmark Movie Channel history.

New Day Foundation for Families, a 2016 Top-Rated NonProfit by GreatNonprofits and Silver Level Guidestar organization, is a Rochester, Michigan, nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing the effects of financial toxicity and emotional stress caused by cancer. Their programs are intended to have a positive impact on treatment outcomes and survivorship. New Day offers financial grants in the form of short term bill payment services, as well as emotional support programs for families who have children under the age of 18 in the home as they face the burdens that accompany the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. LIKE us on facebook at www.facebook.com/FoundationFor...