I had the pleasure of meeting a volunteer with the Ashley Lauren Foundation when I was working at the Lord & Taylor Benefit Bash event.  She was so excited that One Year for Cancer wanted to help them find passionate, skilled volunteers, she had the Executive Director of the foundation, Monica, contact me ASAP.

This is a remarkable woman who has started and runs an even more remarkable organization.  Here’s why she started the ALF and what they do, in her owns words…

In February 1991, my daughter, Ashley, was a typical, energetic 3-year-old child, adored by her family.  When Ashley’s diagnosis of Wilms Tumor (kidney cancer) came, our lives were shattered.  After losing her left kidney to the disease, Ashley endured many grueling years of chemotherapy, radiation and their effects. Ashley is now cancer-free and lives with hope in her heart.

For every parent who has heard the words, “Your child has cancer,” it is a moment frozen in time.  In one shattering instant, life forever changes. Coping with pediatric cancer is one of the most distressing events that a family has to face. They are thrown into a world of unfamiliar and uncertain terrain.

The Ashley Lauren Foundation, a non-profit, charitable organization incorporated with the State of New Jersey on July 6, 2005, was founded because of a passion to make a difference in the lives of these families. The desire to help others facing the same daily battle of pediatric cancer is held by all of those associated with The Ashley Lauren Foundation.

We are here because we care…..

Monica Vermeulen

Executive Director - Ashley’s mom

I spoke with Monica this morning and they are greatly in need of volunteers, specifically to help with general office work.  Some of their needs are listed below.  You can also find them in our Browse Opportunities section.  If you or someone you know would like to start your One Year with them, please contact Monica at 732 414 1625 (office) or mvermeulen@ashleylaurenfoundation.org.

• General office work and projects
• Computer and website skills
• Marketing and public relations
• Event planning
• Work on fundraisers
• Designing and publishing a newsletter
• Identify and write grants
• Help with the needs of the children and families

Monica Vermeulen

Executive Director

The Ashley Lauren Foundation

315 Hwy. 34 Suite 135

Colts Neck, NJ 07722

732 414 1625 (office)

732 414 1628 (fax)

http://www.ashleylaurenfoundation.org

mvermeulen@ashleylaurenfoundation.org

A great article, courtesy of Robin Schoenthaler, as published in the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine. I hope many of you can relate to this… I know I can.

Will he hold your purse?

By Robin Schoenthaler

As a breast cancer doctor, I’ve learned how to spot a devoted husband — a skill I try to share with my single and searching girlfriends.

“Everything I know about marriage I learned in my cancer clinic.” I’ve been known to say this to my friends, maybe more than once, maybe even causing some of them to grind their teeth and grumble about Robin and Her Infernal Life Lessons.

I can’t help myself. I’ve worked as a breast cancer doctor for 20 years, I’ve watched thousands of couples cope with every conceivable (and sometimes unimaginable) kind of crisis, and I’ve seen all kinds of marriages, including those that rise like a beacon out of the scorched-earth terror that is a cancer clinic.

It’s a privilege to witness these couples, but the downside is I find myself muttering under my breath when my single female friends show me their ads for online dating. “Must like long walks on beach at sunset, cats,” they write, or “French food, kayaking, travel.” Or a perennial favorite: “Looking for fishing buddy; must be good with bait.” These ads make me want to climb onto my cancer doctor soapbox and proclaim, “Finding friends with fine fishing poles may be great in the short term. But what you really want to look for is somebody who will hold your purse in the cancer clinic.”

It’s one of the biggest take-home lessons from my years as an oncologist: When you’re a single woman picturing the guy of your dreams, what matters a heck of lot more than how he handles a kayak is how he handles things when you’re sick. And one shining example of this is how a guy deals with your purse.

Read more…