7th Annual Stafford Run for Hope

Run
Run
Stafford Run for Hope

The 7th Annual Stafford Run for Hope presented by AtlantiCare to benefit David’s Dream & Believe Cancer Foundation will take place on Saturday June 16th. We are excited to welcome our friends and brand-new community partners, AtlantiCare as the Title Sponsor for this event.

This is the 7th year for the Stafford Tri/Du/Aqua event and 4th year that David’s Dream & Believe Cancer Foundation (DDBCF) will be integrally involved in this event in collaboration with our good 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.”

Our student groups from Southern Regional Middle School and High School will help manage the logistics of the event with support from our youth group Generation Dream. All 3 student-led groups will play a major role in this event by fundraising and raising awareness on their own within the community. Please support these amazing kids whenever possible…

Please register for the race by clicking the link below: 

Run For Hope 2018

 

 

 

 

6th Annual Frank V. Panzone Jr Memorial Cruisin’ for a Cure

6th Annual Frank V. Panzone Jr. Memorial Cruisin for a Cure

Please join us on Sunday May 6th for our 6th Annual Frank V. Panzone Jr Memorial Cruisin’ for a Cure. This is a motorcycle and classic car ride with a family-friendly after-party at Joe Pop’s Shore Bar & Restaurant to benefit David’s Dream & Believe Cancer Foundation.

Click here for Sponsorship and After-Party tickets!

Click here for the Rider Registration Form!

We are extremely grateful and equally excited to announce that our generous friends from Barlow Buick GMC of Manahawkin are returning for the 3rd year as our Presenting Sponsor. We are honored when a respected business in the community like Barlow Buick GMC combines forces with us to support our families battling a cancer diagnosis. 

In 2013, this event was renamed to honor Frank V. Panzone Jr. Frank was so involved in the community throughout his life and his giving spirit shined throughout his battle with stage IV cancer. His spirit, determination and courage in the face of indomitable odds are only a few of the reasons we are so proud to call this event the Frank V. Panzone Jr. Memorial Cruisin’ for a Cure! Frank’s daughters are both living legacies to Frank, as Kristin Panzone Moritz is serving her second term on our Board of Directors and was recently elected Vice President. Jillian Panzone Elsasser served as a Board Member through 2015 and currently sits on our brand new Advisory Board.  Jillian also serves as President of the Southern Ocean County Chamber of Commerce, a position in which her father served for many years. The Panzone Family and their businesses, Panzone’s Pizza in Surf City and Panzone’s Pizza & Pasta in Beach Haven have been supporters of David’s Dream & Believe Cancer Foundation since our first pizza party fundraiser at the Ship Bottom Fire House in December 2010.

We are also excited to announce that the Beach Haven Moose Lodge, 120 NJ-72, Manahawkin, will be the starting point for this year’s ride. The Beach Haven Moose Lodge and Beach Haven Moose Riders have been so good to us throughout the years and we look forward to our new home for the start of the Frank V. Panzone Memorial Cruisin’ for a Cure. Registration begins at 9:00am with kickstands up at 10:45am. A donation of $30 (individual), $50 (couple) and $20 for each additional passenger in a classic car. Price includes 1 rider, 1 ticket to after party and 1 commemorative pin per person. Breakfast will be served by the Beach Haven Moose Lodge for $8.

You do not need to ride a bike or own a classic car to enjoy the party, live music and games at Joe Pop’s Shore Bar & Restaurant Ship Bottom from 12:00-4:00pm. PRE-PURCHASE DEADLINE EXTENDED through Tuesday May 2nd for discounted tickets, ($20 – Adult 18 and up) and ($10 – Kids 10-17).

Party includes hot & cold buffet lunch featuring Panzone’s Pizza, SunnyRae’s Kitchen, Joe Pop’s Shore Bar & Restaurant and the award-winning Chowderfest Manahattan Clam Chowder from Lefty’s Tavern in honor of DDBCF’s selection as the 30th Anniversary Chowderfest Charity for a Cause Partner! Also, Live Music with Ted Hammock and Jason Booth, Auction, Face-Painting with Sprinkles the Clown and Party Crashers Gaming Trailer for the kids.

Wednesday, May 2nd – Day of Event: Joe Pop’s Party: $30 (Adult 18 and up), $15 (Kids 10-17) and Kids 9 and under Free!

We value your support and your desire to provide HOPE to families battling a cancer diagnosis.  With your help, we have been able to offer financial assistance to ​1,004 Families & $​778,381.91 in Patient Grants!

Registration

Sponsorship Form

SaveSave

SaveSaveSaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

2018 Planned Giving Program

Planned Giving

Planned Giving

Happy and Healthy New Year! 

Thank you for your continued support of David’s Dream & Believe Cancer Foundation (DDBCF). It is because of your generosity that we have so far been able to provide direct financial assistance to 1,004 families battling a cancer diagnosis. In addition to financial support, countless other families have received personal emotional support, wellness services and HOPE.

As we kick off 2018, we are pleased to re-introduce our Planning Giving Program! The DDBCF planning giving program enables individual sponsors or corporate friends to Pay It Forward throughout the year with Event Sponsorships. Our 2018 planned giving initiative will afford us the opportunity to better respond to the increasing avalanche of patient grant requests.

Our DDBCF Executive Director, Danielle Corso created the first successful planned giving campaign in 2015 with the help of the generous team at Informed Mortgage, and our relationship with them remains the Gold Standard for long-term partnerships. The impact that this single program has had on the lives of patients and their families is difficult to accurately measure – literally thousands who have been impacted by this deadly disease are benefitting from the Informed Mortgage planned giving program.

The DDBCF event calendar for 2018 includes highly visible events that provide you or your business with key sponsorship opportunities that are available now. We are particularly excited to announce that DDBCF was selected to be the first Chowder for a Cause Partner Charity for this year’s Chowderfest! Over 15,000 people attended last year, so the opportunity to raise awareness for our Mission of Hope in 2018 will be tremendous!

  • Frank V. Panzone Jr. Memorial Cruisin for a Cure
  • Frank A. Cosimano Memorial Golf Classic
  • Stafford Run for Hope
  • LBI Summer Soiree
  • Survival of the Mills

How can you get involved?
This year, we are offering you or your business the opportunity to be included as a named sponsor at every event (maximum branding and recognition) through a planned giving commitment that can be structured in monthly, quarterly or as a one-time annual contribution. In addition, DDBCF prominently recognizes our Community Partner Level sponsors on the DDBCF website and on all of our marketing brochures, signs and event materials. The Community Partner Level is reserved for individuals and businesses who pledge $10,000 in donations per year.

Please simply call or email DDBCF Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, David Caldarella (ideally before February 15, 2018) to ensure that we recognize you in all of our DDBCF marketing pieces this year.

Phone: (609) 489-0011
Email: david@ddbcf.org

Thank you once again for all of your support!

Sincerely,
David Caldarella
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
David’s Dream and Believe Cancer Foundation

2nd Annual Shamrocks for Hope

St. Patrick's Day

2nd Annual Shamrocks for Hope

St. Patrick's DayDDBCF is excited to announce our 2nd Annual Shamrocks for Hope will take place on Saturday March 10th at Breeze’s Dock  Bar and Grill, in the Viking Yachting Center, in New Gretna, from 4-8pm.  The event is family friendly! In 2017, Patient Advocate Susan Buzby wanted to create and manage a new event in order to “Pay Forward” the kindness, generosity of spirit and HOPE to current patients that were offered to her family through David’s Dream & Believe Cancer Foundation. Susie will serve as our Project Manager for this event and we are excited to have Shamrocks kick-off our 2018 event calendar.

Tickets can be Pre-Purchased through Wednesday February 28th in the Shop section of our website by clicking HERE. (Jetty Printed event T-Shirt Guaranteed with Pre-Purchase Only). A ticket will include: Free Buffet, 1 sponsor pint glass, 1 event t-shirt, Auction, Live Music with Jason Booth & Ted Hammock, Face Painting and Party Crashers Gaming Trailer. 
Pre-Purchase thru Wednesday, February 28th or until Sold Out: Adults 17 & Over: $40, Couples: $65,Kids 6-16: $10, Children 5 & Under: Free. *** Free One Sheet of Raffle Tickets for Tricky-Tray Auction to First 100 Pre-Purchase Guests (Adults)***
March 1 thru Day of Event or Until Sold Out: Adults 17 & Over: $50, Couples: $85, Kids 6-16: $15, Children 5 & Under: Free

Major Milestone Achieved!

Generation Dream

MAJOR MILESTONE ACHIEVED!

In 2010, a group of friends created a philanthropic organization called David’s Dream & Believe Cancer Foundation with the goal of supporting one or two Families per year battling a cancer diagnosis.

Today, we wrote a grant check for our 1,001st Family affected by a cancer diagnosis. 694 Families offered financial assistance in just the past 3 years with countless more families receiving wellness services and emotional support. This would not be possible without the support from our Board of Directors, Patient Advocates, Service-Arm Providers, individual donors, business sponsors, community partners and volunteers who serve by our side as A Beacon of Hope to our families battling this deadly disease.

It’s only fitting that members from our youth group, Generation Dream share the news with all of you!

On behalf of Co-Founders Tim Hall and Carmen Malatino and our Board of Directors – thank you from the bottom of our hearts for affording us the opportunity to shine a bright light of Hope for families during their darkest of times.

Please consider joining us as we continue to serve those in need – Donate Today or contact david@davidsdreamandbelieve.org for information on how to give throughout 2018.

David Caldarella
Co-Founder

 

2017 Beacon of Hope Award Recipient: Dr. David M. Cognetti

 

2017 BEACON OF HOPE AWARD RECIPIENT:

David M. Cognetti, MD, FACS
Associate Professor and Co-Director, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center of Thomas Jefferson University

In recognition of an outstanding individual or agency instrumental in filling hearts with HOPE and shining a LIGHT in the darkness of cancer. We are proud and honored to recognize Dr. David M. Cognetti of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia with our “BEACON OF HOPE AWARD!

Dr. Cognetti was born and raised in Scranton, Pa (where all roads meet.)  He is the second tallest of nine children.  He and his siblings spent their childhood rooting against the Philadelphia Eagles and vacationing down the shore in Ocean City, NJ.  He currently serves as the Co-director of the Jefferson Center for Head and Neck Surgery.  At Jefferson, he initiated (with the help of dedicated colleagues and tremendous nursing teams) programs in Transoral Robotic Surgery as well as Sialendoscopy, both of which are innovative technologies that eliminate the need for radical open surgery. Both programs were one of the earliest of their kind in the United States and are currently among the busiest in the country.

Dr. Cognetti received his BS in Biology from Georgetown University, where he made an unsuccessful walk-on bid for the men’s basketball team.  He received his MD from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where his future wife scored higher than him on all medical school exams and achieved a contested victory over him in a 10k race.  He completed a residency in Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at Thomas Jefferson University before completing a fellowship in Advanced Head and Neck Oncologic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.  Dr. Cognetti returned to Jefferson, his professional home, as faculty in 2008.

Dr. Cognetti has served many leadership roles at the institutional, regional, and national levels.  He completed the Jefferson Leadership Academy and currently serves as the chair of the Operating Room Committee at Jefferson. He serves as the Secretary/Treasurer for the Pennsylvania Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery.  He is the chair of the Head and Neck Surgery Education Committee for the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery and the co-chair of the History Committee of the Endocrine Surgery Section of the American Head and Neck Society.  He also serves on the Head and Neck Steering Committee Rare Tumors Task Force for the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute.  He has received a Castle Connolly Top Doc Award for the past three years.  Above all, he is tirelessly committed to the care of patients, in Philadelphia, Haiti, and beyond, and he is constantly looking at ways to improve systems and outcomes.   He currently resides in Penn Valley, PA with his supportive wife, Missy, and their three strong and independent daughters, Julia, Claire, and Sophia.

Inaugural Hope Under The Sea Gala

Hope Under The Sea

Hope Under The Sea

Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson and David’s Dream & Believe Cancer Foundation present the inaugural Hope Under The Sea Gala which will take place on Saturday November 11th at Adventure Aquarium.

This black-tie optional gala, hosted by Cydney Long of NBC10 Philadelphia will feature a cocktail reception with American Idol’s Cara Samantha, speeches from the 2017 Beacon of Hope Award Recipient Dr. David Cognetti (TJUH), Mr. David Neu (Neu Center for Supportive Medicine & Cancer Survivorship), Big Daddy Graham (cancer survivor and fellow patient of Dr. Cognetti’s) & Dawn Aversa (DDBCF volunteer and mother of a young child who successfully battled cancer). Following the elegant cocktail hour will be a plated dinner served in the Aquarium’s magnificent ballroom where guests will have the opportunity to bid on auction items while being treated to a private concert by G. Love & Special Sauce.

This event benefits quality of life for cancer patients through the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson’s Neu Center for Supportive Medicine & Cancer Survivorship, Jefferson Health’s Mission in Haiti through the Jefferson Department of Otolaryngology and David’s Dream & Believe Cancer Foundation.

About the Gala: 

The inaugural Hope Under the Sea Gala honors the relationship between Stage IV cancer patient David Caldarella (Co-founder, David’s Dream and Believe Cancer Foundation),  Dr. David Cognetti (Associate Professor and Co-Director, Jefferson Head and Neck Surgery), along with the entire Thomas Jefferson University Hospital team. This partnership shares a common goal to serve as a Beacon of Hope, and each year, the Gala will recognize one outstanding individual with the “Beacon of Hope Award”.

We are proud to announce that the 2017 Beacon of Hope Award recipient is Dr. David Cognetti!

Click for G. Love & Special Sauce Video

Click for Tickets

Click to become a Sponsor

Click to donate an Auction Item

Click to purchase Advertisement Journal Space: Page 1 & Page 2

For questions or more information, contact David Caldarella:
(609) 489-0011 or david@davidsdreamandbelieve.org

 

Landguard Title Services, LLC

Our friends and Executive Partners at Informed Mortgage along with owner Lou Hoguet from Landguard Title Services, LLC shared some great news with us at the 5th Annual Island Gala and we are ready to share that major announcement with all of you. Landguard Title Services, LLC has joined our friends from Informed Mortgage with their planned giving initiative and for every deal closed by Landguard Title Services, LLC, $25.00 will be donated to David’s Dream & Believe Cancer Foundation with a commitment to donate a minimum of $500.00 per month!

We would not be able to serve as A Beacon of Hope without the support and planned giving initiatives from business partners such as Informed Mortgage and Landguard Title Services, LLC. Please support the businesses dedicated to making a difference in the lives of families battling a cancer diagnosis.

Sibling Perspective

SIBLING PERSPECTIVE
By: Rachel Jones
Director of Patient Advocacy
David’s Dream & Believe Cancer Foundation

 

“September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, for my family it’s every month.

Childhood cancer isn’t easy for anyone involved, it affects the ENTIRE family. One part of the family that often gets overlooked are the siblings. I should know, I’ve been one.

I was 9 when my youngest sister (2) was diagnosed with ALL (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia).
I remember not just the day, but also the days leading up to and shortly after her diagnosis like it was yesterday.
She had been running high fevers, was lethargic and very fussy, along with these symptoms she had labs drawn, X-rays, etc. over about 4 days leading up to her trip to Boston Children’s Hospital, where she received her official diagnosis.
I’ll never forget being in school and the teacher calling me to her desk to give me the message she had just received, that my parents were rushing my sister to Boston and we (my other sister and I) would be picked up by a friend.
I remember the fear and worry that I felt. I remember wanting to go with them and know why and what was happening.
My sister went to Boston on a Wednesday night, we didn’t get to see her or my parents until that Saturday, when we were told she had cancer.
That word, especially back in the 1990’s was something very rare for kids to know much less talk about, especially regarding another child. Yet, here I was and that word was describing my sister.
The next 2 1/2 years were filled with hospital stays, trips to Ronald McDonald House and clinic visits. Everything and everyone’s focus was on my sister and how she was. Don’t get me wrong, mine was too but I think I can count on one hand the number of times someone asked me how I was and what I was feeling.
You see siblings are expected to maintain life as is, in spite of a diagnosis that literally rocks your world and turns everything “normal” about your life into the unknown.
You’re no longer a family unit like you’ve always known it, now life revolves around your sibling with cancer. Trips, plans, sports, school activities are all worked around chemo, fevers, steroids, etc.
Even when treatment is over, you still often feel second to your sick sibling. Whether it’s make a wish trips, camps or other things that are all part of the cancer world.

So what does all this mean for you, what can you do to help?!?
If ever you cross paths with a sibling of a cancer patient.
For just a moment, forget the patient or the parents and ask how the SIBLING  is feeling, doing in school, sports, etc.
You will never know how much that will mean to that child but I can tell you the light in their eyes and smile on their face when they realize someone’s interested in them will give you a small picture of how special you made them feel.

Cancer is something I wouldn’t wish on anyone, but I wouldn’t change the person I am or people I’ve met from being part of the cancer world.”

 

Cupcakes for HOPE

Cupcakes for HOPE

Cupcakes for HOPE

This is Madelyn. She is 11 years old and was diagnosed at the age of 9 with Leukemia. While still fighting her fight, she wanted to do something to give back to the community that rallied around her and her family when they needed it most.

She LOVES to bake and has been lucky enough to team up with owner, Jess from Cake That in Manahawkin to do just that.cancer

For every “Golden Salted Caramel” cupcake that is sold in the month of September, $1 will be donated to David’s Dream & Believe Cancer Foundation, who in turn will donate 100% of the proceeds to a local child diagnosed with cancer.

A special thank you to our amazing 11 year old Madelyn, who inspires and motivates all of us on a daily basis. Thank you to Maddy’s mom Vicki, Jess from Cake that and Dawn Simon from Swing Graphics for all your support to make this fundraiser and Childhood Cancer Awareness campaign possible!