Two California-based organizations, Cancer Support Community Los Angeles (CSCLA) and Breast Cancer Angels, were selected last fall of 2023 as ASTRO’s Survivor Circle grant winners. For over 20 years, the grant has been awarded annually to selected organizations for the services they provide to cancer patients, their families and caregivers, in the state hosting ASTRO’s Annual Meeting. The two organizations each received a grant of $12,500 and were honored at the 65th Annual Meeting in San Diego last year. ASTRO followed up with both organizations to learn more about how the grants provided tangible support in the past year.
CSCLA is located in Los Angeles, and there they used the grant to support their virtual and in-person cancer support groups for cancer patients, specifically for two part-time licensed clinicians, one Spanish-speaking and the other Korean-speaking. A third of CSCLA’s client base is Spanish-speaking, so CSCLA hosts three Spanish language groups. Meanwhile, CSCLA’s Korean-speaking facilitator provides 1:1 counseling as a foundation for future Korean support groups. In August, in partnership with California Hospital Medical Center, CSCLA launched a new monthly Spanish-language breast cancer support group. Based on community needs and facilitator feedback, CSCLA also added a weekly bereavement support group. And regarding radiation therapy support, they hosted educational presentations including a general webinar on radiation therapy for their Spanish-speaking community in February and another on radiation therapy (“The Process, Side Effects, and Support) in May. In late October, they hosted the virtual presentation “Prostate Cancer: Knowledge is Power” featuring Jason Liu, MD, a radiation oncologist from City of Hope.
Based in Huntington Beach, for close to 20 years, Breast Cancer Angels has been driven by the vision that no one should ever have to choose between paying for treatment or getting groceries. As such, Breast Cancer Angels increased their giving to their clients, lessening the burden for low-income families to have to make such types of choices. Specifically, they purchased 40 gas cards for clients needing to make appointments for radiation treatment. With radiation treatments typically lasting four to eight weeks, the funds to drive there are usually taken from another critical budget item. The grant allowed patients to have gas in their tanks with less worry and focus more on their treatment and recovery.
The Survivor Circle grant has allowed these two impactful organizations to meet important needs of access. We encourage cancer support organizations in next year’s Annual Meeting state, California, to consider how they too might bolster their support. Applications are now open and due April 25, 2025. For questions, contact ASTRO Communications.
To learn more about the 2024 DC area Survivor Circle grant recipients, see the work that the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts and Touch4Life are doing in the DC metro region.
