October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Each year the FA assembles a team to participate in a local Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event as a representative of NYSUT, which has been a flagship sponsor of this American Cancer Society event since 2002.

On Saturday, October 5, NYSUT Team FA was joined by family, friends and students from the Rotaract Community Service Club at the Grant Campus, led by FA member Debra Sullivan (Professional Assistant I, Career and Transfer), to walk in the Making Strides of Eastern Long Island event in Downtown Riverhead’s Grangabel Park. As we walked, informal conversations revealed just how much breast cancer has touched so many of us in our group of about 35 people; here are three examples.

The thriver

FA member Teresa Noto, who was diagnosed ten years ago, is grateful for the support that she has received from her family and friends and noted:

In the past, anyone who was diagnosed with cancer (no matter where they were in the course of their treatment) was called a survivor. I never liked that term; it made me feel more like a victim than a badass! Fortunately, this year they have added a new name option, it’s called a thriver. A thriver is someone who instead uses their cancer experience as an opportunity to support others and focuses on the quality of the little moments while seeking ways to live their best life.

If you have had the pleasure to meet Teresa, you know the term thriver is far more apt for who she is and all she does. This is why we are absolutely thrilled to see that Teresa was interviewed for and quoted in an October 11, 2024, NYSUT News article, in which she explained, “When I was diagnosed, I had 11-year-old twin boys. I didn’t have any choice but to fight it.” And while Teresa came through strong, she knows not everyone survives, each person’s battle is unique and people are receiving this terrible diagnosis every day.

The recently diagnosed

Many FA members know Professional Assistant II Lisa Behnke because of her deep commitment to guiding students in the Ammerman Campus Academic Advising and Mentoring Center (AAMC). Others know Lisa from her role as an FA activist, i.e., being an Executive Council rep since 2016, serving as one of our new member mentor coordinators and volunteering at FA holiday parties and numerous other events.

What members may not know about Lisa is why walking with Team FA this year held special meaning for her:

Participating in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk was especially meaningful for me this year. It hit pretty hard when I was diagnosed since I had no prior family history and I keep myself relatively fit.

After meeting several people from the different healthcare facilities, I felt the need to be more involved in the annual awareness campaign. These medical professionals opened my eyes to the reality of breast cancer and the options women have in battling this disease.

Supporting strong, smart friends like Lisa is why our battle against breast cancer continues beyond Breast Cancer Awareness Month because women across Long Island are diagnosed all the time and their fight continues—and deserves our support. Our participation in the Making Strides event is one small way that we show our support and give hope to others.

The student crew

	Above, Team FA poses with the SCCC cheerleading squad as well as Finn the SCCC mascot (photo by Joan Cook) and, below, Team FA poses in the NYSUT tent with students from the Grant Campus Rotaract Community Service Club. (photo by Peter Verdon)

SCCC students get it! We were so happy when FA member Debra Sullivan showed up with the Grant Campus Rotaract Community Service Club. Asked why they participated, club member Andrew Sweet inspired us with these words of wisdom:

Participating in an event like Making Strides for Breast Cancer goes deeper than just showing up. It burrows down to the very fiber of what makes us human. When we decide to volunteer, it is because we know how passionate people are for these causes in our community.

As community college students, we connect to this passion more than anyone else. It instills a fire in us to make a difference, especially in the county where most students were born and raised. For us Rotaract Community Service Club members, this fire burns the brightest.

Another club member, Nancy Lorme, shared her motivation as well: “I joined the walk to show my support for survivors and raise awareness about this important issue. It can happen to anyone. As a member of Rotaract, our goal is to help our community through service. It was important for us to be there.”

Each year, we are also happy to see the SCCC cheerleading team on the bridge in Grangabel Park alongside our effervescent mascot Finn! You cannot be around these students and feel anything other than pride in our college, so we thank all of them for showing up each year as well as SCCC Association Athletics Coordinator Gina Caputo for her leadership.

Not too late to help us make greater strides!

You can still donate to NYSUT Team FA, and we sincerely hope you will consider a donation. We are just shy of $2,500 this year and would love to exceed that!

Your name (first name only) will be included on our Wall of Hope in the FA office which we are deeply proud of because, as Teresa Noto said, “The ACS Making Strides walk is a celebration of courage and hope, a movement uniting the community to end breast cancer as we know it, for everyone!”

For more pictures and to follow our progress, check out the FA Facebook page. We are grateful for your incredible support for breast cancer survivors, thrivers and caregivers.