The GEM Spotlight: Beyond The Bag Fundraiser

The GEM Spotlight:
Beyond The Bag Fundraiser

Hola my GEMs! We’re going to start something new here. I do a fair amount of public speaking around the country and am always looking for ways to help those who spend so much time helping others. So we’re creating a new strand here called The GEM Spotlight where we take the time to highlight charities doing good work. The inaugural charity is Beyond The Bag, which is a benefit that raises money for the Joan Katz Breast Center Endowment at Baylor All Saint Medical Center in Fort Worth.

Breast cancer education and treatment are issues that are very important to me. I am the daughter of two breast cancer survivors; my father was one of the roughly 1,000 men and my mother was one of the more than 200,000 women diagnosed every year. My father had a radical modified mastectomy; my mother, because her cancer was found on a mammogram and was very small, opted for a lumpectomy and radiation. She is now going on 15 years cancer free!

My mom was lucky; not only was her cancer very treatable, she also had great insurance, which meant she could afford the best treatment. Sadly that is not the case with everyone diagnosed with the disease, which is why fundraisers like Beyond the Bag are so important. Money and how to pay for treatment should be the last thing on the minds of people fighting cancer.

So Saturday, January 26th, my mom, sister and I are going to be the honorary chairs of this year’s Beyond The Bag, Party With A Purpose. It’s going to be in my old stomping grounds of North Texas and we’ll be dancing, singing, celebrating and bidding on some fabulous bags. Oh, but that’s not all; a very generous donation by Dallas-Fort Worth Lexus dealers means some lucky winner is gonna drive off in a 2013 Lexus ES 350!

There are a VERY small number of tickets left so if you’d like to attend, please contact Jill.caughron@baylorhealth.edu or call 817.922.1205; don’t just come stragglin’ up to the door like when you went to Aunt Martha’s at Thanksgiving!

You know something though? Even if you can’t make it out, you can still make a difference. Head on over to the Beyond The Bag Facebook page and hit “Like”. Then you can contract Jill for a remote bidder number and password.

Come on, let’s do this up right.. and Party With A Purpose!