Wear Pink at the 20th Anniversary Pink Pearl Gala

Wading River – On Friday, April 27, the North Fork Breast Health Coalition will celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the non-profit organization at the Fourth Annual Pink Pearl Gala. The cocktail reception and seated dinner followed by dancing, will be held from 6-10 PM in the beautiful ballroom at East Wind, 5720 Route 25A, Wading River. This year’s gala will be a tribute to survivors, providers, caregivers and NFBHC supporters.

Seating for the fun-filled, wear-pink event is available for $125 per person and $95 for breast-cancer survivors through the NFBHC website, www.northforkbreasthealth.org. To reserve individual seating or reserve tables for a group, please leave a message at the coalition office in Riverhead at 631-208-8889. For information about corporate sponsorship opportunities or contributing to a gift basket, please contact Event Chair Melanie McEvoy at 917-699-5948 or nfbreasthealth@gmail.com.

News 12 Long Island Reporter Shari Einhorn will emcee the 20th Anniversary Pink Pearl Gala. She often covers health-related stories for the regional television station. She was also master of ceremonies for the previous three NFBHC galas, which were very successful with hundreds of people attending each of them.

The North Fork Breast Health Coalition is currently led by President Susan Ruffini. The all-volunteer, nonprofit organization supports local breast-cancer patients with programs such as Helping Hand grants. Funds raised by the gala will also allow the group to continue to provide free services such as gentle yoga, reflexology, meditation class and massage therapy to breast-cancer patients and survivors.

Ann Cotten-DeGrasse and her late husband, Antonio, founded NFBHC in 1998 because they saw a great need for such an organization on the North Fork, where there is an especially high rate of diagnosis of the disease. A retired teacher, Ann has also served as president of the Riverhead School Board. The gala was named for the late Pearl Philindas, past president of the coalition.

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