The annual National Cancer Survivors Day celebration took place at RPCI on Sunday, June 3, 2007. Approximately 650 people attended (229 survivors).

Guests were treated to hot dogs and Italian & Polish sausage donated by Sahlen's; pop and water donated by Pepsi; snacks donated by Troyer Farms; and yogurt donated by Upstate Farms Cooperative, Inc.

Activities included carriage rides by Collins Draft Horse, Ox & Pony Club; magicians from the International Brotherhood of Magicians - Gene Gordon Ring 12, clowns from Buffalo Clown Alley, snakes and other creepy, crawly creatures provided by the WNY Herpetological Society (including RPCI staff member Sue Banchich/Public Affairs), and therapeutic drumming with members of "Drawing Down the Moon" (with RPCI staff members Paula Diegelman/Pharmacology & Therapeutics and James Hart/Call Center). DJ Norman kept our guests singing and dancing throughout the afternoon.

Thank you to all the individuals and departments that donated theme baskets for the auction. All of the survivors received a sheet of tickets, and we also sold tickets to our guests. A total of $1,800 was raised which will go towards expenses for next year's event.

Dr. Kelvin Lee (Departments of Immunology & Medicine) welcomed the guests to this year's event and shared that this was the 20th anniversary of the annual National Cancer Survivors Day celebration and that today, approximately 10.5 million Americans are living with and beyond cancer, up from only three million in 1971. He also noted that one of Dr. Trump's goals is to develop and expand a robust survivorship program to meet and anticipate the long-term needs of all RPCI patients and enable them to live well after cancer.

 Dr. Michael Zevon (Psychosocial Oncology) representing RPCI's survivorship committee, had survivors filling out copies of the newly created Survivor Survey. "The survey results will help ensure that RPCI meets the needs of its patients through the expanded survivorship program," said Dr. Zevon. Karen Lalley, PT (Physical Therapy), Jack Lemkuil (Patient Access), Jennifer Schwallie, RD (Food & Nutrition Services) and Heidi Vance, MS, CGC (Clinical Genetics Service) and were available to answer guest's questions in their respective areas.

Exhibitors included the Cancer Wellness Center, Carly's Club, the Community Cancer Resource Center, Data Bank & BioRepository, Gilda's Club, the Gilda Radner Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the Lung Cancer Screening Program & Stacey Scott Lung Cancer Registry, the Paint Box Project, Us Too! Of WNY, Witness Project & Patient Navigator Programs, the WNY Brain Tumor Support Group and WomenStories.

Thank you to the organizing committee members: Beth Bernard (Scientific Affairs), Chris Dibble (Food & Nutrition Services), Vicki Garcia (Human Resources Management), Charlene Kucala (Facilities Planning), Tim O'Shea (Volunteer), Mary Lou Simmons, chair (Public Affairs), and Ellen Zupa (Nursing Education). Thank you also to Audiovisual Services, Creative Services, Development Department, Housekeeping Department, Maintenance & Engineering Department, Print Shop, Public Affairs, Safety & Security Department and Volunteer Services and all of the volunteers who helped keep everything running smoothly. This program was funded by donations made to the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation and was sponsored by Pepsi and Sahlen's.