Wanted: A Few Good Men….To Wear Pink

Join me for some special guests in studio. We're talking fundraising and doing our part for the American Cancer Society!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It's Kenny Young one hundred point sevenw z l X. Well, it's
been a hot minute since I've doneone of these best New podcasts. I
probably should have told my in studioguests here that that's what the name of
my podcast is the best new podcast, because every time I put one of
these out, that could be thenew best podcast. Right. I'm joined
in studio today by Becky Jacobson,Senior Development manager with American Cancer Society Northeast

(00:25):
Region. What would say hello tothe people? Hi everyone, thanks so
much for having me today. Kenny, and we've got ladies first, Ben
Sorry, Sven Anderson with the AndersonGroup Realty at Keller Williams out of Winchester,
Mass. How are you represent Winchester? Excited? I think my boss's
boss is from Winchester, so yeah, we may have to put you guys

(00:45):
in touch. She's down the hall. There we go, hous A matter
of fact, we are gathered heretoday to talk about our connection and our
campaign with American Cancer Society. Menwear pink, and Sven, I can
see you're rocking some pink today.I had to care. I had to
bring in some pain to make surethat we're on point where we are on
point. I got my Miami Beachpink T shirt on today. Back here

(01:08):
you okay, all right, allright, We're in good shape. We're
in good shape. So for thosethat don't know, I think I want
to say I've been involved, butthis is my fourth year. I think
I'm going into spend. When didyou get involved with men Wear Pain?
This has been three years for me, which is exciting to be part of
something such a such a great organization, and it's kind of a cool thing

(01:30):
to be part of that. AndI'm excited about this issue. Yeah,
yeah, And every year it seemsto grow, which is great because that
means so much more for the AmericanCancer Society. October is Breast Cancer Awareness
Month, but you know, somany millions of people have been affected by
cancer one form or another. Canyou guys just tell us a little bit
about your connection, either with ACSor the campaign and why you got involved.

(01:53):
Sure, so I can share,Kenny. So, I got involved
with nonprofits and specifically with the AmericanCancer Society because, as you said,
so many people are touched by cancersof all kinds. And I got involved
after my mom was diagnosed with lungcancer. In twenty eleven. She unfortunately
passed away a year and a halflater. But I really got involved with

(02:15):
wanting to help others who are impactedby cancer, and so I got involved
locally with a small organization, andthen it led me here today with my
career at the American Cancer Society,and I really am so fortunate to be
working with so many amazing volunteers whohave also been touched by this disease,
all working towards making sure that othersare not impacted in the same way that

(02:36):
we have been, and to makesure that we can continue working to raise
awareness and raise funds to help endcancer as we know it for everyone.
Yeah, it's like what I've noticedthe last few years is like everyone that
I've been in contact with with ACSis just like it's it's not just a
job, Like it's part of whoyou are and what you do. And
I just think that's so great.So and you guys are so awesome to

(02:57):
work with and thank you. Wehear w z x N I Heart Radio
have been in connection with with yourevents too in the past, and obviously
we'd like to step it up moreso for those in management listening, we'd
like to do some more this yearhere in twenty twenty three, uh svent
tell me a little bit about yourconnection with Men Wear Pink and ACS.
So I was invited to be ambassadorfor for Men Wear Pink and to be

(03:21):
part of it, but um,my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer,
so it was it was it touchedme directly in my family and um,
when our second daughter, excuse me, our third daughter was born, my
my wife's doctor sent her into thehospital and said, hey, you know,
we just want to do a youknow, a mamogramm to check and

(03:44):
make sure that everything's okay. Andwe found some situations and we're just like,
let's get rid of this. Soshe we was dealing with that with
a newborn and it was, let'ssay, it was challenging. So sure
that was the first dealings with breastcancer and cancer and my family. And
then my mom was diagnosed and iscurrently in treatment for dealing with breast cancer.

(04:06):
So it's been a touching and kindof challenging world for me in terms
of touching my family directly. AndI got to say, I'm a huge
advocate of trying to raise awareness andmoney for ACS and we'll sure we do
what we can to support them.And it's like yet to take something,
you know, a negative like thatthat's negatively impacting your lives and your family's

(04:29):
lives, and to do something positive, whether it's just like it helps ease
that burden, all of that paina little bit because you know, like
you might, there's so many othersgoing through similar situations. So it's like
if you can do something to giveback and say that, yeah, there
is hope, there is light atthe end of the tunnel. You know,
you've been there and now you're comingthrough it. So it's you know,
it's great to be involved that waytoo. Well, there's a lot

(04:49):
of my clients too in the realestate world that idea would that have been
affected by cancer and or breast cancerin particular, and they are huge advocates
of supporting what we're doing to raisemoney. And I'm super excited to start
earlier this year so that we canraise enough money for for ACS and this

(05:09):
this this campaign which is super importantto people not only Boston but all over
the place. Yeah, I rememberstarting last year a little bit. All
usually it's typically the beginning of October, but yeah, I remember one of
you guys had reached out to me, Becky and said, uh, you
know, well it's always good toget the jump on it this year and
you know, let people know it'scoming up. And sure enough, like
within two weeks before the campaign evenstarted, I was almost up to a

(05:32):
grand. So it was like thatthat happened, that escalated quickly. It's
good, that really good out ofin We need that. Yeah, we
need to raise the money and weneed to raise awareness. And that's why
I'm super excited because when we weretalking on the phone about launching this campaign,
I want to start it now.I want to let people know about
some of the events that we've gotcoming and what we're doing and how we're
raising money. And I'm starting tobuy my pink wardrobe so I could starting

(05:57):
some social posts about it too.So it's good. Well, you know,
like I said, going back,I want to say, I'm going
into my fourth year now. Buta good friend of mine, David Lombardo,
he's been involved with ACS, aswas his late mother who passed away
from cancer. God bless you,Cindy. So I had found out about
this and it was called Real MenWear Pink at the time, now we've
rebranded to Men Wear Pink, andI just saw how good it made him

(06:20):
feel to be able to give backand do something to honor his mom.
And then at the beginning of twentytwenty one, I lost my mother to
ovarian cancer and then two months laterI lost my brother to kidney cancer.
So even though it wasn't breast cancerspecifically, I thought, you know,
this would be a great way todo something, you know, cathartic and

(06:41):
also to raise awareness and to getthe word out to our listeners and through
podcasts and things like this to getpeople involved. And like you said,
it's turned into something fun each year, and it's turned into something competitive amongst
we the ambassadors to try to likesee who can raise the most and give
back like that. Again, thepower positivity is doing the most I think

(07:02):
to come out on the other side. So spend let's fast forward here to
twenty twenty three, before we kickoff our Men Were Paining campaign. You're
just telling us about an event youhave upcoming in Burlington. Yeah, I'm
super excited. We've never done anevent to raise awareness. I mean,
I've got a lot of different connectionswith different people, but I've never done

(07:24):
something kind of just to to raiseawareness and to bring some more money,
because I will be one of thefront runners this year. So it's head
to head, you and me,my friend. I love it. We're
gonna go. We're I think oneof the best parts of this whole event
is that there is a competitiveness toit, right. I mean, I

(07:44):
got into those last and we're raisedalmost ten thousand dollars last year in four
weeks. And what was awesome aboutthat is that supporters of me and my
family and in the world that I'min, we're super grateful and generous to
help support that. So I wantto do something different and give back,
and so we've got some corporate sponsorsthat are helping us do something very unique

(08:07):
this year. We're actually going tobe doing a Pink Martini soire party at
the Capital Grill in Burlington September fourteenth, from six to ten. The Capital
Grill is going to sponsor some ofthe food. We're going to make sure
that we have this event open tothe general public, but we're going to
have a limited number of tickets becausethere's only a certain number of capacity that

(08:28):
we could have at the Capital Grill. So you're going to ask people to
dress in pink, and it's onehundred dollars a ticket. What we're gonna
do is a silent auction and we'regoing to actually have pink martini so they'll
be flown. It'll be a nice, fantastic Yeah. I was going to
ask about the general public if peoplecan get there, Like I know sometimes
with these you can go through likean event, right or something like that,

(08:48):
and people like, it'll be freeto come to the event, but
you need to register because of capacitybasically right right, And so when we
get a ticket, what you're gonnado is you're gonna get You're gonna be
able to get a raffle ticket,but when you get there, you'll be
able to have some cocktails and enjoyyourself. And then we're gonna have these
silent options. So it should begreat. So we do have a link,

(09:09):
and then what I'll do is I'llput it in the post that we'll
send out following this podcast that'll allowyou to get there. So that's fantastic.
Yeah, it'd be good. Great, And then yeah, October first
Men where Pink is opening up.Becky, is there any other events between
us fends on the fourteenth and Octoberfirst, we can talk about we do.
We actually have a few other eventsin store. So we have a

(09:30):
few ambassadors this year that are allputting together kind of similar pink themed events
to raise awareness, get people excited. As kind of used that earlier.
We are trying to get people engagein fundraising earlier this year. We do
find that, yes, October isthe month that we all kind of rally
around because of October being Breast CancerAwareness Month and our ambassadors wearing pink every

(09:54):
day during the month of October andraising most of their funds there. But
we find that it's most successful whenpeople are engaged earlier and giving more time
for their fundraising because we all knowhow quickly October creeps up on us,
how quickly you know how busy peoplecan get in the fall. So we
want to make sure that we're makingit as easy as possible for people to
support our mission and to support ambassador. So, yes, we do have

(10:16):
multiple other events that are in theworks. I don't have all of the
details finalized yet, but all ofthat event information will be up on our
Men Wear Pink of Boston website andthat website is Menwear Pink dot org slash
Boston MA. So that website isgoing to be a hub for all information
about Boston men Wear Pink and allof our event information and campaign information.

(10:39):
So that's where you'll go to learnmore about the events to be able to
sign up to attend these events,as well as signing up to being an
ambassador to join the campaign. Sothat that place is where you should go
for all information about the campaign.And you'll also find my contact information there
on that website if you need toreach out with any questions. And being
an ambassador's like the easiest way I'vefound to fund rate It's I mean,

(11:03):
you guys make it so easy toowith the app and with social media,
and we're able to share it onso many different platforms. Now and oh,
we've got to add threads to thatlist. Now, you know everyone's
raging about the threads. We gotto get on that. Are you on
the threads? Spin? I am? We sho connect over on the threads
we have to threads. So yeah, another point of this podcast and why

(11:26):
I thought we'd all get together.You know, I've gathered you all here
today, no to like just putmore feelers out there for people that either
want to nominate somebody from Men WearPink this year, first timers, family
members, co workers, or tobecome an ambassador themselves, and you'll see
how easy it is and how quicklyyou can raise funds, like you were
saying, in less than four weeksat ten k. Yeah, well in

(11:46):
Acs, I think it's just acool event to be part of. And
somebody else got me in part ofI think it was a gentleman named Adam
Hergenroth who suggested I do this,who's out of Vermont, who where Men
Wear Pink Vermont. So I thinkit's great to be able to be part
of something that's bigger than you.And I think, yeah, I think
it's awesome if you can be anambassador to to do this and tell people

(12:07):
about this different events and these differentthings, and it builds camaraderie, camaraderie
between other other folks that are outthere, sure from all different walks of
life, and that's the cool thing. I mean, I even think we
have a New England Patriot that wasan ambassador last year. We do,
yes, we're hoping we'll have himsigned on again this year. So it
really is as Fun said, youknow, it's a nationwide campaign. We

(12:28):
have Men Wear Pink campaigns across theentire nation. We have last year over
two thousand, five hundred ambassadors acrossthe country that raise twelve million dollars JOS
last year alone, last last yearalone. Oh, so this is huge.
It's it's bigger than all of us, and it really takes all of
us to come together to make iteven bigger. So Men Wear Pink started

(12:50):
in twenty thirteen nationally and has beenin Boston since twenty seventeen. Last year
alone, the Boston campaign raised overone hundred and ten thousand dollars. And
we're really looking to make this year'scampaign even bigger and better and really make
it a really even more engaging experiencethan it has been. And you know,
Kenny, I appreciate you saying thatwe provide a lot of resources because

(13:11):
we really do want to make itas easy as possible for people to get
engaged and to support the mission thatwe know is so important to so many
people. And so nominate someone thatyou know who has a breast cancer connection,
Nominate yourself. We really find thatit's most impactful when our ambassadors are
making asks of their network. It'sa peer to peer asks. Yeah,

(13:33):
exactly. They want to support somethingthat you care about and something that is
important to you. So whether thatbe nominating them to get involved themselves or
making a donation, people want tosupport what you're doing. And we find
that the number one reason that peopledon't make a donation is because they were
never asked to. So it's reallyoften as simple as just making that ask
and reminding people because we all havea lot going on and we all know

(13:56):
that reminders can be really helpful.Don't to ask again and again and again.
Plus I've noticed with the social mediaposts when we do men wear pink
too. I mean we're in anythingpink. It's going to grab somebody's attention
past you know, past your doom. Scrolling on the Instagram and you see
something bright, hot pink, You'relike, wait, what's that? You
know, it's like squirrel, itstops and you catch your eye. Hey.

(14:16):
Before we get into real quick wherethese funds are going and the impact
it's had on research, treatment andwhatnot, I gotta ask a real serious
question, how are we doing incomparison to the other New England states.
Are we kicking butt in Boston.We are getting there and we are going
to who's beating us. I wantto know who to put it at the
top of the list that we needto have our eye on. So the

(14:37):
capital region in New York is ourbiggest competitor. We've once again span it
all comes back to Yankees, RedSox. It seems like one or the
other, right, I think weknow who. Yeah, it's a tough
though. I think it's great tobe able to have this competition, and
I think it's great to be ableto get after it. And I'm ready
let's go bring Boston back. Let'sbring it back to the top of the

(14:58):
heap. So listen, as wewere just saying, we were raising all
this money and it's we know avery large portion of that is going straight
to the programs, the research,the treatment, the advocacy. Tell us
a little bit about that what you'veseen personally within ACS. Yeah, absolutely
so. Every dollar that is raisedthrough this campaign helps the American Cancer Society

(15:20):
save lives from breast cancer by fundinginnovative breast cancer research, provides education,
free education and guidance to help reducerisks, and offers comprehensive patient support to
patients in their families. So wecurrently are expecting that in twenty twenty three,
there will be over three three hundredthousand people that will be diagnosed with

(15:43):
breast cancer, and nearly two thousandand eight hundred of those will be men.
So it's important to remind everyone thatthis is not just a disease that
affects women. Are also men thatare impacted by breast cancer too, and
so it's really important. We've seena drastic decrease in breast cancer debts in
the last few decades and it's duein large part to preventative screening, and

(16:06):
so it's really important to get yourpreventative screening. We've seen a decline and
preventative screening due to COVID, whichmakes sense. A lot of people were
not going for their an sure sure, just like blood donations were down to
the last those two years. Yeah, exactly, So it's important for people
to get back to those preventative screenings, go back to seeing your primary care.
If you visit our website cancer dotorg, you'll see information that is

(16:27):
suggested screening ages based on your history, based on your family history, so
check that out. Make sure thatif you are someone that has a history
of breast cancer or any other typeof cancer in your family, that you
are taking a look at that sothat you can talk to your doctor and
be proactive about what cancer screenings youshould be getting in when, so that

(16:48):
you can be diagnosed early when itis most treatable and you know, hopefully
preventable as well. So we reallywant to make sure that people are doing
every thing they can to prevent andthen treat cancer. Yeah, and that's
the great thing about this is Yeah, I mean, our focus is the
month of October, but spend toyour point two. There's no reason not
to start earlier. Throw some ofthese events, recruit some more people to

(17:11):
be ambassadors and get involved. Andyeah, I mean that's the easiest way.
A word of mouth, you knowwhat I mean. I mean,
besides social media and the websites here, I also have a phone number to
throw out for information answers Hope availabletwenty four seven one eight hundred two two
seven two three four five and thewebsite of course, men Wear Pink dot
org slash Boston m A. Let'stalk a little bit about two Friday the

(17:36):
thirteenth. Yeah, not something tobe scared of in case you have trisca
decaphobia. How's that for a tendollars college word. I'm impressed. Friday,
October thirteenth will be the Hope Lodge. Key Galla. Let us in
on this because I've gone the lastcouple of years and this is such a
dynamite event. You guys do suchsuch a great job with this. Well,
thank you, Kenny. Yes,it is a wonderful event. This

(17:59):
year the event will be at theOmni in Seaports And this event is an
annual event that raises funds for theWhole Lodge in Boston. So for those
that are not familiar with the WholeLodge, it is a center that is
funded by the American Cancer Society.We have them across the country and one
right here in Boston in Jamaica Planeand the Whole Lodge is essentially a free

(18:21):
home away from home for cancer patientsand their families. So it is free
lodging. It is really more thanlodging. It is a community. It
is a place for patients to gowith their caregivers to stay when they're receiving
treatments in the area. And theonly requirement is that they live forty plus

(18:42):
miles away from their treatment center.So with us having such amazing hospital systems
in the Boston area, the BostonHope Lodge is of course very popular and
oftentimes operating on a wait list becauseit is again, we just have such
remarkable hospital systems here. It allowspatience to have one burden removed from Yeah,

(19:03):
it's one less thing to think about, and it's kind of like their
home away from home because I've seenit and there's fully functioning kitchens and you
know, study spaces and workspaces andpeople can still center. Yeah, people
can still do the thing. Therewas a garden, I know, there
was a garden that was a bigpart of that. That can you know,
can be really good for people too. So it's not just like you're
going to some hostel somewhere, youknow. It's it's really like a home

(19:26):
away from home, very special place, and it allows patience and their caregivers
to be around others who are goingthrough the same experience, yeah that they
are. Treatment care is so expensiveas it is, like you said,
one less thing to have to worryabout is simply a place to stay well
while you're getting your treatment. Sothat's fantastic. So Whope Lodge Key Gallo.
That's open to the public. Imean anyone can attend. You can,

(19:48):
we can find corporate sponsors, youcan purchase a table and fill it
up with your coworkers, your friends, your family. Where can people go
for that? So people can goto cancer dot org for more information about
all of our events and campaigns.And that's also just the best area to
go to for different ways of involvement, because that's one thing that I think
is really important to share is thereare so many different opportunities to get involved

(20:11):
in different events, whether it beendurance events, our gala's, our campaigns
like Men Wear Pink, so reallycancer dot Org and again lots of information
about statistics, preventative care, andthen ways to get involved to support the
mission. So look, we sithere on August first, and before we
know it, it's going to beOctober first. I hate to to throw

(20:33):
that out there, but he stillplenty of great days left. But October
first very special day as well,because we've got another big event to help
kick off National Breastcancer Awareness Month.That is right, we have our Boston
Making Strides Against Breastcancer walk here inBoston at the DCR hat Show that's on
Sunday, October first. It isthe oldest breastcancer walk in the country,

(20:55):
and so we're really excited to takethat in New York. We're really excited
to be kicking off Ruskincer Awareness Monthwith that event. And so if you're
interested in coming out to join usat the Hatshell, please register on our
website. It is Making Strides Walkdot org slash Boston m A and we
hope to see you there. Excellentand again for those of you that want
to nominate friend, family member,co worker, or become an ambassador yourself

(21:19):
and join Spen and I. Herewe go and raising so much money.
Let's go. That's a quote thegreat Tom Brady. Yeah, just head
over to men. We're paying dotorg slash Boston m A. Beggy Jacobson
Acs, thank you so much forcoming in today. Thank you and speaking
with us and spreading the word.Sven Anderson, thank you for your time
and everything you do as well.My numbers don't even touch yours, but

(21:41):
I'm going to hope to make adifference in that this year. That's what
matters, right, It's not aboutwho's doing what it's about how much we're
raising for this great organization. I'msuper excited for this year and ready let's
go. There's no losers in this. It can only come out on the
positive side. Every little dollar,every person makes a huge impact in the
lives for people touched by cancer.So let's go.