NYSUT members from western New York to Long Island lace up their sneakers to Make Strides Against Breast Cancer each fall "because we believe in something big and we believe we can be the difference," NYSUT Vice President Maria Neira told the crowd in Albany's Washington Park.
Honoring memories and making a difference is why Frankfort-Schuyler TA retiree Sandra Bliss walks. "I walk for a cure for those fighting cancer now and in memory of my colleagues who have passed," said Bliss who walked in Utica.
The Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk is the American Cancer Society's largest fundraiser at numerous sites across the state and New York City from Sept. 26 through October.
"I'm a survivor. I know how much this money is needed for the educational programs and the research," Patricia Rushby told Neira and Kathleen Donahue in Albany. Rushby led a Mohonasen TA team raising almost $7,000.
Like many, Rushby walks and talks in the name of generating more money for the educational aspects relating to the fight against cancer and she thanked the two NYSUT officers for the union's involvement.
Three years ago NYSUT, a flagship sponsor, was the first organization to raise $1 million in a single year and is still the only team to top that milestone mark, according to the American Cancer Society. Total donations from all sites will be announced later this fall.