The Milwaukee Chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has launched its second annual Man & Woman of the year campaign to raise money to help blood cancer patients live longer and to further research to find a cure.
The Milwaukee Chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has launched its second annual Man & Woman of the year campaign. The campaign empowers individuals to raise money to help blood cancer patients live longer and to benefit research to find a cure.
During the ten week campaign candidates will write letters, host events, and collect auction items on behalf of the Society, top fundraisers are awarded the title of the 2010 Man or Woman of the Year. Five individuals from the Milwaukee area have been nominated for this year’s campaign. Tiffany Weber, marketing professional and director of training for Waukesha-based MLT Instructing Technologies, and Deb Zindler, creative director and principal of z2Marketing in Pewaukee, make up the candidates for Woman of the Year. Anthony Preman, senior financial services representative for Principal Financial Group, Aaron Robertson, president of Franklin-based Intrepid Innovations, Inc., and Chris Fenton, director of manufacturing systems engineering at Kohler Company round out the nominees for the Man of the Year.
“At first I was hesitant to accept the nomination,” said Weber. “But then I started talking to my friends and family and I could not believe how many lives were touched by Leukemia and other blood cancers. A lot of my friends were survivors or knew survivors so I couldn’t help but say yes (to the nomination) because I just wanted to help people.”
Last year, the Wisconsin campaigns in Madison and Milwaukee raised nearly $100,000 over the ten week time period.
The money that is raised throughout the campaign goes to the national Leukemia & Lymphoma society where it is divided up among organizations and researchers to help find a cure for blood cancers,” Caitlin Virtue, campaign coordinator, said.
“It’s really the greatest kind of competition,” said Fenton. “We are all out here trying to raise money and awareness about blood cancers and what people can do to help. In the end, we are all raising money for a good cause, and that makes us all winners.”
Dr. Robert Taylor of Aurora Health Care, and Betty Alioto received the Man & Woman of the year honor.
This year’s candidates have started reaching out to individuals and corporations via letters and emails asking people to contribute to the campaign. They also have charity Brewer tailgates, date auctions, wine tastings, celebrity dinners and movie screenings, concerts and networking events planned at various venues over the next ten weeks.
“We are really excited about what we have planned,” Zindler said. “We are looking forward to being able to maximize attendance at the events and getting the word out to as many people as possible.”
Weber also indicated her campaign would be centered around keeping the cost of her events low to give as many people as possible an opportunity to contribute to the cause.
For a complete schedule of all of the candidate’s events, and for additional information visit the LLS Man & Woman of the Year website.
The campaign will be concluded with the Grand Finale Gala on May 20 at Boerner Botanical Gardens, 9400 Boerner Drive Hales Corners. Tickets to the event are $50 per individual or $400 for a corporate table of eight. To meet the 2010 candidates for man and woman of the year click on the video below.
