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At Home with: Gilda's Club
A cancer diagnosis is accompanied by a web of doctor appointments, pharmacy trips, and medical procedures. But physical health is not the only concern for a person who is battling cancer. Psychological and emotional well-being are equally important to the recovery process. The patient’s family and friends often need resources in those areas, as well. Pittsburgh-area residents living with cancer are fortunate to have a local Gilda’s Club that helps to meet their emotional and social needs. “The social and emotional support that people need on their cancer journey is as important as medical treatment,” says Carol Lennon, executive director of the western Pennsylvania chapter of Gilda’s Club. Gilda’s Club was first established in New York to honor comedienne Gilda Radner, who died of ovarian cancer. Here, people with cancer, as well as their loved ones, can connect and draw strength from others who are navigating the same waters. “This is a family at Gilda’s Club,” Lennon says. Although it’s a common misconception that Gilda’s Club is only for women, they embrace anyone living with cancer—men, women, teens, and children—along with their family members and friends who are also touched by the disease. As Gilda Radner said, “When cancer happens, it happens to the whole family.” “The whole idea is to provide a place for people who are touched by cancer,” says Lennon. Interestingly, Radner’s own battle with cancer was not her only experience with the disease. Her father died of brain cancer when she was just 12. The national Gilda’s Club organization was a dream of Radner, who became famous as a star of Saturday Night Live, on which she played quirky characters like “Roseanne Roseannadanna” and TV reporter “Baba Wawa.” Radner was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1986 and died of the disease in 1989 at the age of 42. During her own battle with the disease, Radner received a tremendous amount of support from the wellness community. She also recognized the need for a place where people with cancer and their loved ones could come together to support each other. But no such place existed during her treatment. Joanna Bull, Radner’s therapist, and actor Gene Wilder, her husband, carried on that dream, even after Radner’s death, and they opened the first Gilda’s Club in 1995 in New York City. In total, there are 23 Gilda’s Club clubhouses across the country; Pittsburgh’s was the 21st to open in 2006. The western Pennsylvania Gilda’s Club chapter had modest beginnings.“It started around a kitchen table,” Lennon says. That kitchen table belonged to Cindy Stanish, an oncology nurse, who recognized that her patients needed a source of social support that the medical community did not provide for them. At the time, there was nowhere for them to come together. Stanish and her husband, Al, went to New York City to see the first clubhouse in the late 1990s, and after that visit, their dream began to take root. In 2000, the local Gilda’s Club organization was awarded the 501(c)3 nonprofit designation. The building on Smallman Street in Pittsburgh’s Strip District neighborhood was purchased in 2004, and after extensive renovations, the Clubhouse, as it is known within the organization, opened in 2006. 
Founders: Al and Cindy Stanish Lennon has been the organization’s executive director since 2004. Previously, she had done community relations for Mercy Hospital. Lennon not only had a professional interest in the group, but a personal one as well, having lost three siblings to cancer. In its six years in existence, membership in the western Pennsylvania chapter has skyrocketed to 1,100 people. Those members come to the group through a number of avenues. Gilda’s Club has strong relationships with area hospitals and distributes its monthly activities calendar to them. The group recently stationed a staff member at Children’s Hospital, and a program called “Taste of Gilda’s Club” offers some programming at Magee-Women’s Hospital, West Penn Hospital, and the Hillman Cancer Center. Gilda’s Club has targeted outreach to younger people affected by cancer as well. The organization has a Teen Ambassador Committee tasked with raising awareness among their peers who might have friends or family members affected by cancer. The group has also boosted its school outreach efforts. Becoming a member of Gilda’s Club is easy and free. Potential members are asked to register for and attend a new member meeting, which take place once or twice each week. The schedule is available on the Web site: www.gildasclubwesternpa.org . In those meetings, attendees get a tour of the clubhouse and an overview of activities, in addition to the opportunity to share their story with the group. After a new member has attended orientation, he or she meets with a staff person to design a free custom membership plan that fits his or her needs. Members are free to attend as many or as few events as they like. Gilda’s Club’s schedule features a wide variety of programming, all of which is provided at no cost to members. “Absolutely everything we do here is free of charge,” Lennon says. Activities include weekly support groups that cover topics such as wellness and bereavement, and some are designated for special audiences, such as teenagers. The support groups are facilitated by licensed clinical social workers. Networking groups also meet once or twice each month to discuss a common interest, such as Living with Cancer in your 20s and 30s, or a specific diagnosis, such as myeloma. Gilda’s Club also offers programs called Family Focus and Team Convene in which the person with cancer calls together family members and other important sources of support to meet and discuss the diagnosis, specific needs for assistance, and his or her experience of living with the disease. Members also have the opportunity to attend lectures by local physicians and other experts touching on topics like managing side effects. The organization’s schedule features plenty of events that are not remotely related to cancer. They include workshops on arts and crafts, journaling and yoga, among others. Social events, like potluck dinners and book club, are popular, too. “Social activities are sort of the high point of Gilda’s Club,” says Lennon. A special effort called Noogieland contains the programming dedicated to the needs of children and teens. Noogieland activities address support needs for patients and bereavement for children who have lost loved ones to cancer. It offers other social activities as well. Gilda’s Club’s ability to offer such extensive programming is impressive, considering the western Pennsylvania chapter has a staff of merely six, including four program staff. “We operate fairly lean,” says Lennon. Although the group facilitators are contracted employees, nearly all of the workshops and other activities are led by volunteers, helping to keep programming free for members. The chapter’s budget is solely financed through its fundraising efforts. The group has to raise enough money to cover its operating budget every year and does so without the help of development staff.“We have an amazing board of directors,” Lennon says. “They do a phenomenal job of fundraising for Gilda’s Club. under the excellent leadership of Janet Simon, board charir.” She noted that the board’s development chair, Robin Bernstein, has been a dedicated advocate for Gilda’s Club. That tradition of fundraising reaches back to the local chapter’s origins. The group’s start-up costs were significant, and Lennon attributes much of the success to Betsy Marcu, a past board chair who spearheaded the initial fundraising efforts. “She was really instrumental in raising $3 million in one-and-a-half years,” she says. The western Pennsylvania Gilda’s Club chapter has a number of fundraising avenues, beginning with the Red Door Society, which is composed of individuals who donate $1,000 per year. Another important fundraising effort was launched last year. Members who attended the networking group for younger cancer patients wanted to contribute. The local chapter nominated 40 people between the ages of 18 and 45 to be in the inaugural class of A New Generation: Today’s Faces of Gilda’s Club. Each had a fundraising goal of $2000, and collectively the group they raised $75,000. This year’s class of 30 individuals has a lofty goal of $100,000. Gilda’s Club also holds a number of special events each year. The “Conversation with Paul O’Neill” is the signature event. “It’s a little more of an intellectual event,” says Lennon. The Pittsburgh Pirates partner with Gilda’s Club on another annual event held every June at PNC Park’s Hall of Fame Club as part of the chapter’s anniversary celebration. This year, the group is introducing a golf event. The First Wackiest Golf Tournament is scheduled for July 26 at Sewickley Heights. The local Saks Fifth Avenue also generously donates a portion of its sales to Gilda’s Club as part of its Key to the Cure held each October. Individual donations also are accepted directly through the Web site. Gifts of materials for programming or even meeting refreshments are also welcome. The organization maintains a “wish list” on its Web site. Gilda’s Club is always in need of volunteers as well. They perform tasks like administrative duties, maintenance, program leadership, and the like. Based on the membership numbers and the feedback from participants, all of those fundraising efforts are supporting a successful cause. Gilda’s Club is reaching its goal of sustaining the emotional well-being of people with cancer and their loved ones. As one member noted, “Gilda’s has given me back everything that cancer has tried to take away from me: peace of mind, great friends, understanding, solace and camaraderie...When I am there, I know I am not judged at all, by anyone.”Lennon recognizes the organization’s appeal, too. “It’s one of the neatest things I’ve ever been involved in,” she says. |
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