We are thrilled to announce that the Inaugural LBI Summer Soiree presented by D. Finelli Construction is SOLD OUT! Thank you to everyone who has reserved their spot for “Boardwalk Nights” at the Sea Shell Resort & Beach Club – if you’ve missed this opportunity but would still like to support our mission as A Beacon Of Hope, please visit bit.ly/DonateDDBCF.
We also want to warmly welcome and extend our sincere thanks to The Jordan Family for their generous support of the Soiree. Bill and Kirsten Jordan were introduced to DDBCF a few years ago at the Island Gala by the Reynolds Family and since that initial meeting have been unwavering in their support for our families battling cancer.
We return to the Sea Shell Resort & Beach Club for the 6th year of this re-branded event and are so excited that Jaimee Hughes Boyle and Brittany Hughes Solon were also recently welcomed to DDBCF’s Volunteer Advisory Board. The Hughes Family supports DDBCF at multiple events throughout the year and have done so since our first year of existence. We are grateful for their steadfast and generous support!
The LBI Summer Soiree “Boardwalk Nights” is our take on an upscale summer cocktail party at the breathtaking Sea Shell Resort & Beach Club. The event will be held from 7pm – Midnight on August 10th and will feature: live boardwalk games, scrumptious hors d’oeuvres, a robust buffet, creative cocktails with 3-hour top-shelf open bar, spectacular auction and live music with LBI’s Ted Hammock and Jason Booth in our outside Tiki Lounge with Philadelphia’s High-Energy Seven Piece Band LOVE 77 to keep you moving all night long on the ballroom dance floor.
We are excited to announce the formation of the David’s Dream & Believe Cancer Foundation (DDBCF) Advisory Board. The Advisory Board comprised of 20 volunteers dedicated to achieving our Mission of Hope for patients and their families affected by a cancer diagnosis.
In 2017, DDBCF reached an all-time milestone of helping 1,004 families battling a cancer diagnosis with direct financial grants totaling $778,381.91. Beyond the significant financial grants, countless families receive hope, emotional support, and wellness services through our generous corporate and individual donors. These goals could not have been accomplished without the inspiration from our patients and support from our volunteers.
The overall purpose of our new Advisory Board is to bolster support and awareness for DDBCF’s Mission of Hope. We thank each of our Advisory Board Members for committing to serve as Beacons of Hope to our patients and their families. We are honored to introduce our Advisory Board Members and invite you to learn more about each of them by clicking the names below:
The 6th Annual Stafford Run for Hope presented by D Finelli Construction and Lou’s Electric to benefit David’s Dream & Believe Cancer Foundation took place on Saturday June 17th. We had 227 athletes converge on Manahawkin Lake Park early Saturday morning under overcast skies and temps around 80’. Race Director Ross Reynolds created this event 6 years ago. Ross reached out to his friend and former Ship Bottom Lifeguard teammate, David Caldarella a couple years ago to see if the two could partner on this event to benefit local families battling a cancer diagnosis. Ross and his wife Marissa do an amazing job every year with the event and Survival of the Mills which will take place on a new date this year, Sunday September 24, 2017. Thank you, Ross and Marissa.
Thank you to our Presenting Sponsors, Lou’s Electric and D Finelli Construction. Lou Manganiello from Lou’s Electric and Dave Finelli from D Finelli Construction and their teams support our mission of HOPE for families battling a cancer diagnosis throughout the year. The two companies were recognized earlier this year as our newest community partners. Thank you to Lou, Dave and your teams.
A huge thank you to our new friends at Manafirkin Brewing Company for hosting our after-party and award ceremony for the 6th Annual Stafford Run for Hope. If you have not been to Manafirkin yet – do yourself a favor and get there! Thank you to Bagels & Beyond and Fusaro’s Pizza & Pasta for donating all the food for this year’s event.
Thank you to our amazing volunteers. We say it time and time again but we really do have the best volunteers in the world. It takes a tremendous number of volunteers to staff an event like the 6th Annual Stafford Run for Hope. Thank you for giving of your time to “Pay it Forward” for others.
We have amazing volunteers but we would not have an event without our athletes. 227 athletes were ready to swim, bike and/or run to test their own physical endurance Saturday morning while understanding that many in our community are fighting for their lives every single day. We recognize our athletes “fight” and appreciate their support!
We want to thank our youth group Generation Dream families and kids for fundraising and supporting this event. We also had several of our Generation Dream families volunteering along the race route at various water stations. A special thanks to Kim Manzella and Steve Crisalli.
Thank you to our graphic artists and friends at Swing Graphics for all the design and marketing materials for this event. Dawn and Pete are also responsible for our newest event in 2016, Shave the Date which will take place on Friday November 24, 2017. Thank you to our friends and community partners at Jetty for printing this year’s event shirts and a special thanks to Brad Bargiel for always working under stressful time constraints but always delivering for the Dream Team. Thank you to Charlie Kulp from Shore Brake Cyclery for all your support on this event and throughout the year.
Thank you to DQ Events, Surf City Lifeguards, LBI TriClub, Stafford Township Recreation Department and Ocean County Parks & Recreation.
The 6th Annual Stafford Run for HOPE: Tri/Du/Aqua/5K will take place on Saturday June 17th at Manahawkin Lake Park in Manahawkin, NJ! This is the 6th year for the Stafford Tri/Du/Aqua event and the second year that David’s Dream & Believe Cancer Foundation (DDBCF) will be integrally involved in this event in collaboration with our friend Ross Reynolds from Trident Multisport. Ross established Trident Multisport to bring excellent multisport events to southern New Jersey. Giving back to the community is a major focus of their team as well as promoting healthy lifestyles. Trident’s website has this Hawaiian statement on its’ main page:
“Ahuwale ka po’okela I kau hana ia ha’i.” It is through the way you serve others that your greatness will be felt.”
We are extremely excited to announce that our good friends and brand-new community partners, D. Finelli Construction and Lou’s Electric will be the Co-Presenting Sponsors for this year’s event. We cannot thank Dave Finelli, Lou Manganiello and their teams enough for their continued support and commitment to help us serve our families affected by a cancer diagnosis. The Finelli and Manganiello families have been supporters of the Foundation for many years and support other events throughout the year including our Frank V. Panzone Jr. Memorial Cruisin for a Cure and our Island Gala.
We are very excited that our youth group, Generation Dream, will play a major role in this event by fundraising and raising awareness on their own within the community. Please support these amazing kids if they should come knocking at your home or business. We are equally excited and honored to have the support of our DDBCF student group from Southern Regional High School. The students will manage registration, the transition area, water stations on the 5K course and participate in the races.
Please register for the race by clicking the link below:
We held our 4th Annual Island Gala “Hope Under the Stars”on Friday August 5th at the Sea Shell Resort & Beach Club. It was a beautiful night filled with HOPE Under the Stars!
The most critical information about David’s Dream & Believe Cancer Foundation (DDBCF) was conveyed to the crowd by Co-Founder, David Caldarella during the opening ceremony. 634 Families battling cancer have been supported by DDBCF over the past 5.5 years. 312 families in the first 4 years of existence and 322 in the past 1.5 years. A group of friends set out to assist 1-2 patients affected by a cancer diagnosis per year. DDBCF is currently on pace to offer solely financial assistance to a patient/family every 1.46 days in 2016 and if you add in the emotional support and hope – that number rapidly drops to 1 patient/family per day! Truly an incredible milestone for the DDBCF Family and the supporters that make this “Generosity of Spirit” possible throughout the year! THANK YOU!
The highlight of the evening was hearing from Co-Founder of David’s Dream & Believe Cancer Foundation (DDBCF); Tim Hall, Co-Chair of the Department of Otolaryngology at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital; Dr. David Cognetti and 3 of the new Directors Patient of Advocacy for David’s Dream & Believe Cancer Foundation: Dawn Aversa, Susie Buzby and Tina Angers. Tim spoke about the origin of DDBCF and in particular a story of Hope when his friend of 40 years David Caldarella was at his darkest point during his battle with stage IV head and neck cancer and one of his best friends Carmen Malatino created a CD of recorded voicemail’s from family, friends and Dr. David Cognetti encouraging David to Dream & Believe. Dr. Cognetti talked about his personal relationship with his patient David Caldarella and his recollection of the early stages of DDBCF all the way through today. Dawn, Susie and Tina spoke about their personal experiences with cancer as a caregiver in Dawn’s case and survivor’s in Susie and Tina’s and the positive impact DDBCF has had in their lives.
We want to start by thanking our partner and Platinum sponsors for the 4th Annual Island Gala: Informed Mortgage. Everybody in attendance heard David explain the planned giving initiative created by Informed Mortgage in collaboration with Dani Corso from Volatile Media Management and Communications Director for DDBCF. Informed Mortgage donates $25.00 per every closed loan out of their Manahawkin office to DDBCF. This partnership has resulted in planned giving donations of $27,500.00 to DDBCF from the Informed Mortgage team in Manahawkin, NJ. Please give them a call today for any of your mortgage or refi needs especially with all-time low interest rates!
Thank you to the Reynolds Family and Reynolds Garden Shop, Nursery, Floral Market and Landscaping for their continued support of DDBCF and their Gold Sponsorship of the 4th Annual Island Gala. The absolutely breathtaking “VIP” floral arrangements and stunning landscapes surrounding the “Hope Tiki Garden” were simply Amazing!
A special thank you to Tom Hughes, Jaimee Boyle and Brittany Solon from the Sea Shell Resort & Beach Club. This incredible family and their staff continue to care for this event as if it were an event for a family member and we cannot thank them enough.
The artwork and graphics for the event including flyers, posters and invites were all beautifully done by Dawn and Peter from Swing Graphics. We want to thank Typestries and Copyrite for all of our printing needs. Thank you to LeAnna Gerety from LeAnna Theresa Photography and Tony Coon from Darn Swell Media for the photography and video.
Our Board of Directors and volunteers are second to none and this event puts their selfless giving for our families battling cancer on center stage. Their generosity of spirit for the families of DDBCF battling a cancer diagnosis goes far beyond, “Paying it Forward” and for that we love them!
Thank you to our guests and sponsors. You are “Vehicles of Hope” to so many!
Platinum Sponsors:
Informed Mortgage & Bill & Kirsten Jordan
Gold Sponsors:
Reynolds Landscaping, D. Finelli Construction & Southern Ocean Medical Center
Silver Sponsors:
Thomas V. Massa DMD & Associates, Paul Jr. Designs, Ocean First Bank/Ocean First Foundation & Dan & Karen Raugh
Bronze Sponsors:
Panzone’s Pizza, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Lou’s Electric, Anderson Insurance Agency, G. Anderson Agency, Walt McCollum Plumbing, Heating & Cooling, SOMC Foundation, The Van Dyk Group, Lumby Family, Bruce & Beth Fisher, Invisalign, Perry & Barbara Kaplan, Phillip & Christine Kaputa, John & Dee Vanderslice, Brandon Systems, Zelus Consulting Group & Rue Insurance.
Mark your calendars now for the 5th Annual Island Gala on Friday August 4th 2017!
We are beyond excited for the 4th Annual Island Gala to benefit: David’s Dream & Believe Cancer Foundation at the Sea Shell Resort & Beach Club on Friday August 5th, 2016. This year’s theme is “Hope Under The Stars!” Our patients and families affected by a cancer diagnosis inspire us on a daily basis. This year’s Gala will be very special as we introduce some of our brand new Directors of Patient Advocacy. This is a group of individuals directly affected by a cancer diagnosis and positively impacted by the support from David’s Dream & Believe Cancer Foundation.
The beautiful Sea Shell Resort & Beach Club is once again the venue for this year’s Gala. The Hughes Family and staff treat this event as if it were a special event for a family member. We appreciate their continued support and friendship.
Our entertainment lineup for the 4th Annual Island Gala is second to none! We met American Idol Alum Cara Samantha a few years ago as a result of her cousin Jamie being diagnosed with cancer. Unfortunately, Jamie eventually lost her courageous battle with cancer. Cara will be performing during cocktail hour and under the stars in our outside “Hope Tiki Garden” too. A brief opening ceremony will take place after cocktail hour. Then everybody should get ready to dance the night away to Philadelphia’s High-Energy Seven Piece Band: Love 77. The members of LOVE 77 are motivated by the mission of the Foundation and ready to bring the house down with some incredible Live Music! Our favorite Emcee, Live Auctioneer and Friend: James Donahower is back to host the entire evening for us this year.
We want to thank our friends at Reynolds Landscaping for their continued support and efforts supporting this special event.
Please join us on Friday August 5th, 2016 at the Sea Shell Resort & Beach Club. Individual tickets will go on sale shortly for $250.00pp. Event will take place from 7pm-midnight. Live Music, Hors D’Ourves, Dinner and 3 Hour Top Shelf Open Bar. (Cocktail Attire)
Invites have been mailed to last year’s guests and the easiest way to secure your ticket for the 4th Annual Island Gala is to reserve your sponsorship today. You can do so by visiting our website at www.davidsdreamandbelieve.org, click the Donate tab, under donation type click (enter your own donation amount)(enter sponsorship level amount), under donation events click Island Gala in the drop down. You can also download form attached below. Make checks payable to DDBCF, 364 North Main Street, Suite 10D, Manahawkin, NJ 08050. Thank you!
We held our 3rd Annual Island Gala “A Night on the Boardwalk”on Friday August 14th and it proved to be our most successful fundraiser to date with a NET of $94,577.43! Our Mega 50/50 Raffle Winners were Angela Monafo and Taryn Parascand (Congratulations!) but there’s no doubt that the real winners of the night were our patients and families affected by a cancer diagnosis! Thank you.
We do need to thank a few people that were instrumental in making our 3rd Annual Island Gala possible. That starts with our executive committee in charge of planning and sponsoring various aspects of this year’s event. The Reynolds Family, Reynolds Landscaping & Garden Shop, Steber Family, McCabe Family, Catherine Deely and Board of Director Members Kim Manzella & Dani Corso. This group started its’ planning/management efforts in January 2015 and continued right up until the last item was packed up around 2:00am Saturday morning! It takes a monumental effort from a dedicated team to pull off an event like this one and this group was simply amazing!
Our Host Venue for the 3rd year in a row was our friends at the Sea Shell Resort & Beach Club! Tom Hughes, Jaimee Boyle and Brittany Solon treat the entire planning process, meetings and night of the event as if it was a special party for a family member and for that we are eternally grateful. The resort is absolutely beautiful and the incredible staff make all of our guests feel like VIP’s!
Our sponsors play a critical role in the overall success of the Foundation being able to answer the increased number of patient requests. Thank you to our Cyclone $5,000.00 Sponsors: Reynolds Landscaping, Steber Family, McCabe Family, Informed Mortgage andAllied World Assurance Company. Reynolds Landscaping and the Steber family were also responsible for sponsoring this year’s amazing band Monte Carlo from Philadelphia. Thank you to our Himalayan $2,500.00 Sponsor: D. Finelli Construction and Congratulations to Dave and Laurie on the birth of their baby girl Lyla Marie. Thank you to our Carousel $1,000.00 Sponsors: Anderson Insurance Agency, G. Anderson Agency, Brandon Systems, Cosimano Family, Shannon Keyes DMD andZelus Consulting Group LLC.
Our Auctions are always top notch thanks to the efforts of Cathy Deely, Kim Manzella, Dani Corso, Sophia Steber, the Reynolds Family (Peg, Katie & Ashley) and our extremely generous local businesses that want to participate in our events. A special thanks to Kyle Baddorf Executive Chef at Garces Trading Co. for not only producing one very successful auction dinner but accepting to do 3 of them!!!
We would not be able to hold our events were it not for the tremendous support from our volunteers throughout the year especially at this Goliath of an event. A special thanks to Tony Coon, Ryan Johnson, John Manzella, Nick Staub, Lisa AndersonandJames Donahower.
Our guests (former and new) and everybody listed above demonstrated a genuine commitment to the mission of the Foundation and generosity of spirit that could only be described as inspirational! Our team from DDBCF walked away from this year’s Island Gala knowing that our Beacon of Hope will shine a little brighter for our patients/families affected by a cancer diagnosis thanks to all of you!
Mark your calendars now for the 4th Annual Island Gala on Friday August 5th 2016!
We are grateful for the partnerships forged with the local businesses in the community that share in our mission to bring Hope & Financial Assistance to families in our community affected by a cancer diagnosis. David’s Dream & Believe Cancer Foundation spotlights D Finelli Construction and the Finelli family for all their efforts & support over the past couple of years helping us achieve our mission! We asked Dave & Laurie Finelli to give us a few sentences of what it means to them to be involved with DDBCF. Here’s what they had to say and please support the local businesses that make it a priority and part of their own company’s mission to help the families of DDBCF.
“Like so many others, we have experienced first hand the struggles and suffering that so many beautiful people have and continue to go through. We have family members currently diagnosed. We’ve lost close relatives and best friends to the disease. Our hearts get filled with sorrow. But through faith, with sorrow comes joy.
We have been blessed to even participate in a small way to your amazing foundation that helps to restore that faith and hope. We are grateful for the opportunity of reaching the hearts and needs of very special people. Our thoughts and prayers are with you, the foundation and the friends and families of those lives that are being moved in a very special way. Keep pressing on. Keep your faith strong in knowing that through this sorrow, there will be joy.”
