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| 20th Annual Gala Benefit & Auction | |
Our June 10th Benefit is swiftly approaching! Don't forget to PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS NOW!
Enjoy an elegant evening of cocktails and hors d'oeuvres. Bid on live and silent auction items that include a chance to meet Bette Mildler at her star-studded Hulaween Gala, a week in Armissan, France, a Marie Claire internship in the fashion department, prime seats for sporting events and more!
Ticket prices start at: $200 Individual Tickets or $125 Young Professional Rate. |
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| Ed Geffner Tackles Challenge of Homelessness | | |
As Ed Geffner looks towards his June retirement he took a moment to reflect on his 33 years at the helm of Project Renewal. As a kid growing up in a four-room rent-controlled apartment in Brooklyn he never imagined tackling issues related to homelessness. "When I graduated from college [in 1959], I intended to become an academic." he says. While he was in graduate school in Michigan, however, he found another path. Ed became involved with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and had an opportunity to volunteer down South in the civil rights movement. As a result of his experience, what had been merely an interest in issues of social justice grew into a passion.
He became involved in the anti-war movement and set out to become a lawyer, but by the time he finished law school, things had changed. "Litigation had less appeal when I graduated than it had when I was involved in the civil rights and anti-war movements themselves." Instead of practicing law, he took a job at the Vera Institute of Justice, a criminal justice think tank (and parent company of Project Renewal). In 1976, Vera assigned him to Project Renewal (then, the Manhattan Bowery Corporation). "My driving passion was social justice, and certainly people who were impoverished and on the streets are an extreme example of the lack of social justice in our society."
Ed only intended to stay a few years, but opportunity presented itself. "...They put me in charge of the whole shebang, and that gave me the chance to think about and develop ideas independently." It's "the ability and freedom to be creative" that has kept Ed at Project Renewal for more than three decades. While he is proud to have been involved in many pioneering programs, he singles out the mobile medical services. Those programs have "the potential to become a model for federal programs and others."
Ed has a great deal of business savvy, but, more importantly, he has heart. We "focus on taking care of clients, and a lot of that is figuring out what their needs are and what kinds of services we should be providing to help them best achieve independence and self-sufficiency." After 33 years of leadership Ed Geffner will be missed. |
| ScanVan Receives Komen Grantee of the Year Award | | |
Mary Solomon | On May 12th, Susan G. Komen for the Cure honored Project Renewal's ScanVan with the Grantee of the Year award. Donna Hanover presented the award to Mary Solomon, ScanVan's Program Director. Mary's passion for providing breast health education and screenings to women aboard the mobile mammography clinic has its roots in her family's history of breast cancer. Her grandmother, mother, and sister, were all diagnosed with breast cancer. As Mary recalls, "The only reason my family has been protected from the devastation of breast cancer is that we practice what we preach."
What Mary preaches is that early detection is key and that every woman needs to be screened. This belief which fuels her work can be traced to her mother, Diana Truglio. Early detection spared her mother's life and lit Diana's commitment to breast health. She learned about a study on mobile mammography and was encouraged to start her own clinic, Women's Outreach Network (WON), promising to never turn away a woman in need.
Project Renewal launched its radiology clinic, ScanVan, in 2007 and merged with WON in 2008, welcoming Mary and her team who brought a shared dedication to serving low-income women with limited access to breast health screening. Komen Greater NYC has proudly supported Project Renewal's ScanVan since 2007. |
| Smoking Cessation Study | |
Doug Warn |
Did you know that 70% of homeless men and women smoke? Compare this to the 20% rate for the general population, and you see the size of the health threat. In fact, death rates due to tobacco-related cancer are twice as high among homeless individuals compared to the general population. Doug Warn Clinical Director of Addiction Services, joined a team of investigators to design and develop a treatment protocol to help smokers quit. The study included 58 homeless men and women in a group counseling program using motivational interviewing and cognitive behavior therapy. Doug Warn supervised the social worker conducting the sessions. Participants were also provided with either the patch, gum lozenge, or inhaler over the course of 8 weeks.
The results of the study proved that a program designed for homeless men and women can work: 75% completed 12 weeks of treatment, and of this group 88% completed 24 weeks. The quit rate was 15% after 12 weeks and 13% after 24 weeks. Further studies are still needed to identify the best ways to encourage homeless individuals to use smoking treatments. This is a high-risk, hard-to-reach population where smoking cessation can have a direct impact on improving health. Results of the study were published in the current issue of the American Journal of Health Behavior.
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