NEWS
Barry Alvarez to co-chair charity effort
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by Darryl Schnell
Wednesday, February 2, 2005
University of Wisconsin Athletic Director and head football coach Barry Alvarez and his wife Cindy announced Tuesday they will co-chair a fundraising campaign to bring a cancer support center to Madison.
Gilda’s Clubs offer cancer patients, along with family and friends, a place to build emotional and social support as a supplement to medical care. Named after comedian Gilda Radner, who died of ovarian cancer in 1989, Gilda’s Club Madison will be one of 26 affiliates that are either open or in development in communities across the United States and Canada. The board of directors expects the new Gilda’s Club to open in the spring of 2006.
Barry and Cindy Alvarez, who have both lost parents to cancer, said they see positive potential for Gilda’s Club Madison.
“I think — especially near a campus like the UW — an organization of this type can be a huge asset for our students [along with] their families learning to live with this disease,” Mr. Alvarez said. “The creation of a Gilda’s Club in Madison will make sure there is a support network in place for anyone facing the realities of cancer.”
Gilda’s Club is free to all who use it. Various programs available include support and networking groups, creative workshops, comedy nights, potlucks and Noogieland — a special program for children.
“We have support groups for not only people with cancer, but also for people whose brothers or sisters or spouses have or have had cancer,” Patricia Anderson, president of the Board of Directors of Gilda’s Club Madison, said. “There’s something here to help everyone.”
When asked why Gilda’s Club and why Madison, Mrs. Alvarez said having a Gilda’s Club would have certainly helped her having to deal with the horrors of cancer as a child after losing both her parents to the disease when she was young.
Mrs. Alvarez added she supports the project because their family has benefited from the community.
“Wisconsin has been so good to us that Barry and I really want to give back,” she said.
Peg Lucas, vice president of the Gilda’s Club Madison board of directors, said the charity is excited to have the Alvarezs’ support.
“Their dynamic leadership and participation will be a huge boost to our momentum in opening the door to our clubhouse,” Lucas said. “Making access to this program available to individuals from a very wide area of our state who are living with cancer, whether recently diagnosed, or many years after their treatment.”
Members of Gilda’s Club Madison said they are counting on the Alvarezs’ help to raise money for the project.
To open a new clubhouse, the organization must raise $1 million. However, members hope to raise more to keep building costs as low as possible.
