Every month, the Parsippany Area Chamber of Commerce honors one of its own by selecting a Member of the Month. Members are selected for a variety of reasons. Some are businesses celebrating special anniversaries. Others are honored for long-time service to the community or their great charitable work. And still others are simply deserving of special recognition for being an active member of our ever-growing Chamber family. If you or someone you know is a prime candidate for Chamber Member of the Month, please fill out a nomination form available by clicking here, or contact Board Member Alan S. Golub, Esq. via e-mail at agolub@feinsuch.com.
PACC Member of the Month – August 2019
American Cancer Society, Inc. | Northeast Region
7 Ridgedale Avenue, Suite 103
Cedar Knolls, NJ
Chamber Contact: Katelyn Tiernan, Senior Community Development Manager
(973) 285-8040
katelyn.tiernan@cancer.org
www.cancer.org
If you’ve ever come to a PACC Juice Up Your Morning networking event, you’ve probably met Katelyn Tiernan. Even though her organization, the American Cancer Society, only joined the PACC in early 2019, Katelyn has made it to nearly all of our monthly Juice Up meetings, usually with another one of her colleagues in tow. Why the need for such a dedicated presence?
Simply put, for the past several years, Katelyn has been laser-focused on getting the word out about the free programs and services made available to cancer patients and their families by the American Cancer Society, including but not limited to:
- The Road to Recovery program, which provides cancer patients with free transportation to and from their treatment appointments, is but one example of the American Cancer Society’s hands-on approach to providing solutions, easing burdens, and making difficult things easier for cancer patients and their families.
- Hope Lodge & Hotel Partners – Hope Lodge is the organization’s own brand of 30 lodges around the country. Each Hope Lodge offers cancer patients and their caregivers a free place to stay when their best hope for effective treatment may be in another city. Hope Lodge provides a nurturing, home-like environment where guests can retreat to private rooms or connect with others. Every Hope Lodge also offers a variety of resources and information about cancer and how best to fight the disease. And for those who must travel to cities that don’t have a Hope Lodge, the American Cancer Society has partnered with hotel chains around the country to provide free or discounted accommodations.
- The National Cancer Information Center offers help by connecting patients, families, and friends dealing with a cancer diagnosis to caring and expertly trained staff to answer questions, identify resources, offer health insurance assistance, and provide a listening ear and guidance. The service can be reached by phone at 1-800-227-2345, or live chat via the cancer.org website.
- Since 1946 the American Cancer Society has funded more than $4.8 billion in cancer research. As of August 1, 2019, the American Cancer Society is funding 67 million dollars in just breast cancer research grants, shared among over 160 different breast cancer research projects.
As a Senior Community Development Manager, Katelyn is not only responsible for getting the word out to the local community about these and other resources, but she also oversees the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk in Parsippany, NJ. Making Strides is the largest network of breast cancer events in the nation and unites more than 1.2 million passionate participants around the country in a 3-to-5-mile, non-competitive walk to honor those touched by the disease and raise awareness and funds to fight breast cancer.
This year’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer of Parsippany Walk will be held on October 20th at 4 Century Drive in Parsippany. Registration begins at 8:00 a.m., the opening ceremonies commence at 8:30 a.m., and the walk starts at 10:00 a.m.
Last year, the Parsippany walk hosted over 10,000 community members and raised over $711,000! Sadly, there is always more work to do. This year, over 271,000 women and men will be diagnosed with breast cancer and over 42,0000 will die due to breast cancer. That is why Katelyn is working so hard to make this year’s Making Strides walk the biggest and most successful walk yet!
To help make that happen, Katelyn and the American Cancer Society are asking all PACC members to consider participating in this year’s event. There are many ways to help, from becoming a sponsor, to volunteering to help at the event, to leading your own fundraising team to walk the event, any and all help is very much needed and appreciated.
To register to participate in the event, or to just learn more about it, click here or contact Katelyn directly via e-mail at katelyn.tiernan@cancer.org
For their amazing and tireless efforts on behalf of cancer patients and their caregivers, families, and friends, the American Cancer Society is our August 2019 PACC Member of the Month!
Member of the Month’s Q&A of the Month
Provided by Katelyn Tiernan, American Cancer Society, Inc. | Northeast Region
Q: As someone who has dedicated her career to promoting awareness and fundraising for an important cause, what is the best marketing advice you can give to someone just starting out?
A: Be your most authentic self. Engage and listen. It’s a conversation, and maybe a long-term one during which you are hopefully building a relationship. If you are too “sales-y” right off the bat, it can be a big turn off, especially in large networking groups where everyone is hoping to make valuable business connections. Sure, everyone is there for the same reason – but that’s all the more reason to dial it back a little and get to know people with a genuine, sincere connection. In my experience, those connections have served me far better than those born of a hard, aggressive sell.
