The Avon Breast Cancer Crusade seeks to improve breast cancer outcomes and reduce disparities in survival rates at the community and national level. Our strategic grant making reflects: a holistic and place-based approach in high-need areas throughout the United States; a commitment to enabling access to medical advances and support services for breast cancer patients, particularly those from vulnerable populations; and a commitment to investing in research on the prevention, diagnostics, and treatment of breast cancer.

The Avon Breast Cancer Crusade focuses on care and seeks to help across the continuum of breast cancer – not only helping those who are at risk or diagnosed with the disease today, but also research into finding better treatments for tomorrow.

Washington, D.C. 2016 Beneficiaries

• Breast Cancer Care for Washington received a grant of $179,000 on behalf of the Avon Breast Health Outreach Program, which will serve various community organizations in the Washington, D.C. area including Nueva Vida in Alexandria, Arlington Free Clinic in Arlington, and the Vietnamese Resettlement Association in Falls Church.
• Food & Friends, AVON 39 D.C.’s food sponsor, received a grant of $225,000 to provide nearly 200,000 meals to women diagnosed with breast cancer and their families, ensuring that patients receive nutritious meals at a time when they need it the most.
• GW Cancer Center, AVON 39 D.C.’s medical sponsor, received a grant of $100,000 to support its patient navigation program which will remove barriers and coordinate access to care for prompt diagnosis, and assist with resources for more than 2,000 patients.
• Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Capital Breast Care Center received a grant of $200,000 to help provide breast cancer screening services to more than 1,600 women in the metropolitan area, many of whom are ineligible for public assistance and will require follow-up and evaluation.
• Johns Hopkins University received a grant of $300,000 to conduct research on HOXA5 – a protein coding gene that acts as a tumor suppressor in normal breast cells and is missing from breast cancer cells – even in their earliest stages. The research will look at how the loss of HOXA5 promotes the formation of cancer and see if an intervention to reestablish HOXA5 will stop the development of cancer.
• Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, home of the Avon Center of Excellence, received a $750,000 grant to support five new research projects, provide large-scale breast health education and patient navigation efforts, and link 24 women with metastatic breast cancer to special patient retreats.
• MedStar Regional Breast Health Program and MedStar Georgetown University Hospital received a $50,000 grant to provide psychosocial patient navigation services to low-income patients in Prince George’s County, MD, where there are limited referral and counseling options for breast cancer care.
• Meritus Healthcare Foundation received a grant of $65,000 to support the Avon Breast Health Navigator program at Meritus Medical Center which will provide vital services like translation, transportation, and financial assistance referrals to medically underserved women from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.
• Washington Cancer Institute, MedStar Washington Hospital Center received a grant of $100,000 to provide education, screening and patient navigation services to women in D.C. Ward 5, 7 and 8.