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Survivors, Friends Return For Yorktown Cancer Walk

by Brian Marschhauser

YORKTOWN, N.Y. - Thousands of pink-clad supporters will make their way to Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park Sunday morning for the return of Support Connection's 18th Annual Support-A-Walk for breast and ovarian cancer.

“It’s just like this endless sea of people,” said Barbara Cervoni, Support Connection’s director of services and communication. “There are points at which you can’t see the end of it because there are just so many people. It takes a good 30 minutes for all of the initial group to just get through the starting line.”

Sunday’s event is expected to bring in between 9,000 and 10,000 people, which Cervoni said would have been unimaginable when the walk first came to FDR Park in 1995. The support walk was started by two Yorktown residents, Nancy Heller and Richard Adamski, who believed there was a lack of support for residents of Northern Westchester.

“They figured only 50 people would show up, but they had 800 people that first year. They were pretty much flabbergasted at the turn out, but really encouraged by it,” Cervoni said. “With the funds that were raised the second year, they were able to establish Support Connection as an organization.”

Nearly $240,000 was raised from 2011’s walk, and all proceeds help fund Support Connection’s free support services for women affected by breast and ovarian cancers. Money is typically raised by teams of walkers that do fundraising throughout the year.

The schedule planned for the Sunday’s Support-A-Walk:

  • 9 a.m.: Registration for those not pre-registered. Entertainment including live music, face painting, characters for the kids. Gathering time for teams of walkers.
  • 9:15 a.m.: Welcome, invocation, reflections on the meaning of the day
  • 9:30 a.m.: Warm-up and stretching to music, led by staff from Club Fit.
  • 10 a.m.: Ribbon-cutting and the 3-mile walk around FDR Park begins.
  • After the walk there will be free refreshments, music and a raffle.

“This is a rain or shine event,” Cervoni said. “We have had a couple of years where the weather was not perfect. To me, it’s really a true testament to the importance of the event and people’s spirits that they would come regardless.”

 

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