Dear JPF Friends:
The heavens helped celebrate this very special moment by providing the surprisingly sunny, warm and slightly breezy weather, considering the cloudy, cool and misty days before and after the launch. We had about 200 people attending the kick-off event at the San Francisco City Hall on November 15.
A big Thank You to Chris’ 5th grade classmates, Joanne’s high school pals, teachers, parents, doctors, news media, community leaders and friends for participating in this event. Thank you to Senator Carole Midgen for sharing her personal experience of matchless bone marrow searches as she was battling the deadly leukemia. And Thank You to Assemblywoman Fiona Ma (our former neighbor) for sharing her involvement in the Asian American Donor Program after witnessing our dilemma back in 2001 when we searched for a matched bone marrow donor for Joanne. We were also encouraged by the inspirational talks given by SF Supervisor Sean Elsbernd, SF DPH Director Dr. Mitch Katz, Former state Senator Jackie Speier, Dr. Jordan Wilbur of Cancer Hope (Joanne’s doctor at CPMC), Executive Director Roxanne Fernandes of UCSF Children’s Hospital, and Chairman Jonathan Leong of Asian American Donor Program.
The resolution put forth, and approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on November 20th (with a file number of 071569), “commending JPF’s incredible challenge of raising $2.5 million to initiate the first Northern California Umbilical Cord Blood Bank,” further verified the need for this public and nonprofit cord blood bank. Joanne was truly fortunate to be a San Franciscan as I recalled that the Board of Supervisors adjourned its regular meeting back on January 21, 2003, out of respect for her passing on January 13th of that year.
Thank you, too, to The Lions Clubs of San Francisco and The Peninsula for inviting us and Fr. Vito Perrone to present the JPF Fundraising Project in the evening of November 16. Thank you, Fr. Vito Perrone for addressing the need to support the JPF as we embark on this challenging NCUBB project, as well as for sharing your memorable encounters with Joanne. This project needs community grass-root support, and we are hoping to have the backing from the Lions Clubs and many other similar organizations.
Thank you to Charlotte Holper, a Saint Cecilia School 5th grader, and her pal Casey Stengel, for their donation of $48.39; money earned from their work selling homemade lemonade in their neighborhood. The two of you really made this day especially special for us. We will need many more individual contributions like yours at the $50, $100, $200 or $500 or higher level to help us raise the needed startup funds to provide life-saving therapies in Northern California and worldwide.
While the kickoff events are like a train which has just left the station, and it, like the Joanne Pang Foundation, has a long way to go before reaching its final destination, we will always follow Joanne’s little kite of hope, love and faith to help the needy patients for a chance at life.
Happy Holidays!!
Joseph Pang
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