RVC Breast Cancer Coalition funds the fight

The Rockville Centre Breast Cancer Coalition held its first annual Fund the Fight Black and White Cocktail Fundraiser on Oct. 6 at EGP Oceanside to raise money to support women in the community who have been diagnosed and are being treated with breast cancer.

A total of 350 attendees dressed in snazzy garb for the event, which featured live music, food, drinks and raffles, and raised nearly $30,000, according to Erin O’Sullivan, the coalition’s co-founder and co-president.

“It’s overwhelming when you walk into a room and you see 350 people all there for the right reason,” she said, “and all having a good time and all having their own story as well.”

O’Sullivan had the idea to start the coalition after seeing her best friend struggle with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer. She, along with Peg McDonald, whose family has been affected with the disease, realized that the kind of support group they had in mind did not exist in Rockville Centre. They officially founded the coalition last January.

Since, the coalition has helped a number of women in Rockville Centre, and a few in Oceanside and Hempstead, O’Sullivan said. The proceeds from the event will go toward helping them and others with costs related to diagnosis and treatment, she added.

“Everybody in there knows somebody, or is related to somebody, or is somebody…who have been through or are going through it now,” O’Sullivan said. “I’m just humbled by people’s generosity and where people’s hearts are.”