CRCD’s Casino Night Gala wins big support from community
IMPERIAL — The Cancer Resource Center of the Desert will surely continue to deal a winning and helping hand to their clients in need after their signature Casino Night Gala fundraiser was a success Saturday night.
Held at the Casa de Mañana building at the Imperial Valley Expo here, the second annual gala provided more than 300 attendees with an elegant red carpet night filled with notable guest speakers and an array of casino games — with all profits benefiting directly toward the CRCD’s mission and purpose.
“It’s not only for fundraiser, but it’s also for raising awareness in our community as to the work we do,” CRCD’s Chief Executive Officer Helen Palomino said.
Established in 2006, CRCD is a non-profit community-based organization that provides comprehensive cancer patient navigation to Imperial Valley residents.
With a goal of the event raising at least $25,000, Palomino said the gala is the most important fundraiser CRCD hosts throughout the year.
Tying perfecting into the casino theme of the event was keynote speaker Molly Bloom, an American entrepreneur and author of the 2014 memoir “Molly’s Game: The True Story of the 26-Year-Old Woman Behind the Most Exclusive, High-Stakes Underground Poker Game in the World.”
In April 2013, Bloom was charged with running a high-stakes poker game that originated in the Viper Room in Los Angeles. It attracted wealthy individuals, sports figures and Hollywood celebrities.
Palomino said Bloom was invited as the keynote speaker as her story of turning her life around would be one worth sharing during the event.
“Her story is a story of second chances and really taking responsibility for yourself and being true to yourself with your own integrity even if mistakes are made,” Palomino said. “Now she’s very purposeful in the way she engages in people that she involves herself with. It’s a real beautiful way of resiliency. For me, when life throws a wrench at you, it’s about how you adjust to that. She is that example. For us, it totally connects to the patients we have. They’re not expecting to get cancer, but yet they have to cope and deal and strategies and really refocus what life is for them.”
A film adaptation of her book, Molly’s Game, starring Jessica Chastain and directed by Aaron Sorkin, debuted in December 2017.
Also speaking at the event for the second year in a row was Mike Haynes, who is a national spokesperson for prostate cancer awareness.
Haynes was also a former National Football League cornerback, who played from 1976 to 1989 for the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Raiders. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1997.
CRCD advocates on behalf of its clients to ensure a positive outcome. It focuses on treatment, pharmaceutical and financial navigation.
The organization provides free services to cancer patients of all ages with any type of cancer. Since it was established, CRCD has served more than 2,400 local cancer patients. It served 512 patients, 19 of whom were children, in 2017 alone.
“We’re serving 29 children right now and this raising of funds helps to further the work we’re doing,” CEO Helen said. “We try to garner a lot of money to help these children’s families who suffer so much. Their story is so complex and their story is so abrupt because when a child is diagnosed with cancer, they have to be treated in San Diego at Rady Children’s Hospital or a hospital in Los Angeles that specializes in that. They cannot be treated here.”
Also in 2017, CRCD provided $1.43 million to convert 15 uninsured cancer patients to full coverage.