Statements
Mission
About Gilda's Club Middle Tennessee
Gilda's Club Middle Tennessee, an affiliate of the Cancer Support Community, uplifts and strengthens people impacted by cancer by providing support, fostering compassionate communities, and breaking down barriers to care.
Gilda's Club Middle Tennessee is dedicated to providing support, education and hope to all people impacted by cancer, including family members and friends of those diagnosed. Free of charge to everyone, Gilda's Club Middle Tennessee's evidence-based programming for adults, teens, children and families includes support groups, healthy lifestyle workshops, mind-body classes, social activities, educational lectures and community resource information. Offering approximately 70 professionally-led support and networking groups, and more
Background
Gilda's Club Middle Tennessee, formerly Gilda's Club Nashville, is an affiliate of the Cancer Support Community. We opened our doors on August 3, 1998 at 1033 18th Avenue South under the leadership of Founder and CEO Sandy Towers. We were the fourth Gilda's Club affiliate; today there are more than 50 worldwide, with others in various stages of development. In January 2007, we moved into our newly purchased and renovated clubhouse at 1707 Division Street. In July 2017, we re-branded as Gilda's Club Middle Tennessee to better serve our growing community's cancer support needs. Today, we have more than 4,600 members and a volunteer team of nearly 1,000. On our monthly program calendar (which includes both in-person and virtual offerings), there are more than 70 professionally led support and networking groups taking place, and 80+ educational workshops, classes and lectures, including Tai Chi, Pilates, gentle yoga, guided meditation, glass painting, knitting, guitar lessons, cooking demonstrations, and "lunch and learns."
Impact
In 2019, Gilda's Club Middle Tennessee had 12,096 visits and welcomed 388 new members, including 83 children and teens. Our support groups, individual counseling, health coaching, and parents coaching were utilized 4,306 times. Our healthy lifestyle and movement classes were attended 3,575 times. We saw a 50% increase in new members during the 2017-2018 fiscal year, and a 20% additional increase in 2019.
Of Gilda's Club Middle Tennessee's impact during 2020's pandemic, President and CEO Harriet Schiftan says: "The adults, teens, children and families we serve don't have the luxury of putting cancer on hold. Cancer doesn't quit - even in the face of COVID. In fact, in the first four months of the pandemic (April-July 2020), we received a typical year's worth of requests for resources and support - more than 1,500. Over the course of the year, we served close to 8,500 individuals, both in-person and virtually. Gilda's Club is increasingly a lifeline for your friends, families and neighbors being impacted by cancer."
Beyond the numbers, we know that participants in Gilda's Club evidence-based cancer support program understand their cancer experience better; better cope with emotions surrounding the illness; learn to manage mental health/ stress; better manage disruptions in work/ school/ family life; feel less isolated; and have increased treatment adherence and communication with their medical team. Justin, a young man who currently participates in our Young Adult Support Group, recently shared, "To sit across the room from others who have been in my shoes, others who have walked parallel paths, even others whose experiences are fundamentally disparate from mine, and to be understood, is to be seen and heard. I didn't realize I needed to be told: 'What you are experiencing is real, it's rough, it's life-changing, it's mind-altering, it's catastrophic, it's unbelievable and unfair'... Through Gilda's, I found those truths. I found 'my people.'"
Today, Gilda's Club is serving the region of Middle Tennessee more than ever before.
Needs
Because our cancer support program is offered at no charge, funding is critical to Gilda's Club. As such, many of our needs revolve around fundraising, such as:
1. To grow our Red Door Society, a major donor society.
2. To grow our Will Power legacy giving society.
3. To grow our monthly sustainers.
4. To continue to recruit diverse talent to our Board of Directors.
5. To grow our volunteer and community partner network to support program expansion (to meet the needs of a wide-spread and rapidly growing Middle Tennessee).
6. To raise awareness of our mission and program in order to serve even more individuals impacted by cancer.
CEO Statement
First, thank you to our entire community and Gilda's Club family. As I celebrate my five year anniversary at Gilda's Club this year, I am honored to serve our community as President and CEO of Gilda's Club Middle Tennessee. Gilda's Club has served the community for 23 years with dedicated clinicians, loyal volunteers, strong relationships with medical institutions, and dedicated donors. We are a fiscally conservative organization, very careful to put every donor dollar to its very best use in service of the mission. And our mission is to ensure no one faces cancer alone. We want to face cancer together. Our members - people with cancer, and friends and family - who can take part in any aspect of our program free of charge, are the very best ambassadors of the Gilda's Club mission. No one can better share how the Gilda's Club program makes a difference than the people who have participated and received support. The staff, volunteers, members, donors and our Board of Directors are passionate and dedicated to the Gilda's Club community. Friendships are fostered among support group participants. Camaraderie and laughter fill the kitchen as much as delicious scents from the oven during cooking classes. Healing and sharing happen everyday during creative arts activities. As we grow our Program with workplaces, schools, places of worship and community centers, we'll bring important resources into existing communities who may need help dealing with cancer's impact. We hope that all of these efforts will raise awareness for Gilda's Club so that when someone hears those words - 'you have cancer' - they, and their family and friends, will also remember that there is a community to help them all face cancer, together.
-Harriet Schiftan
President & CEO
Service Categories |
|
| Primary Category: | Health Care - Health Support |
| Secondary Category: | Diseases, Disorders & Medical Disciplines - Cancer |
| Tertiary Category: | Mental Health & Crisis Intervention - Counseling |
Areas Served
Gilda's Club Middle Tennessee serves 15 Middle Tennessee counties through our cancer support program.
| TN - Bedford |
| TN - Cheatham |
| TN - Davidson |
| TN - Dickson |
| TN - Hickman |
| TN - Marshall |
| TN - Maury |
| TN - Montgomery |
| TN - Robertson |
| TN - Rutherford |
| TN - Sumner |
| TN - Trousdale |
| TN - Williamson |
| TN - Wilson |
