The TB, Cancer and Health Association have gone past their target of raising $100,000 during the Women's Health and Breast Cancer Awareness Walk in October...and money is still coming in! At last count a week ago, the charity had collected $123,000 and that figure will climb even higher with funds still coming in from Corporate sponsors. The association is raising money to finance their most ambitious project so far, the building of a Cancer Resource Centre which will cost in the region of $4 million. Judy Simons, president of TB, Cancer and Health, is delighted with the response to the cause, calling it "an overwhelming success''. "It is a huge project, but I'm proud to say we have actually purchased the lot of land on Point Finger Road.

I signed on the dotted line with great quivers,'' said Mrs. Simons at a recent reception co-hosted with sponsors BF&M Insurance Group.

It was at the reception that the top three individual fund raisers for the three kilometre charity walk and the Corporate team spirit award winners were announced.

Ann Spencer Arscott, who also used her computer to generate pledges, was the top money raiser with $4,475. A year ago she raised the second highest total for an individual and this year set her goal of raising the top amount.

Second this year was Stephanie Slayton with $2,010 while Natalia Faria raised some $1,484.

Winning the Corporate Team Spirit Award -- based on money raised, numbers participating in the walk and team spirit and enthusiasm -- was ACE Group of Companies who have pledged to match everything the employees raised. In second place was Overseas Partners Ltd.

At the reception, Mrs. Simons spoke of the TB, Cancer and Health Association's vision for the future.

"The project is emotional, emotional to me and emotional to the staff at TB and Cancer and emotional to any fund raiser who has been touched by somebody in their life with cancer,'' said Mrs. Simons. "The project is going to run us in the $4 dollars area and we have very quietly gone about and raised a million dollars. We want to help the families of those who have been diagnosed with cancer because they need to understand what everybody is going through.

"When somebody is diagnosed with cancer -- and I just lost a sister a year ago -- they know what they have to deal with. But those around them, their daughters and sisters don't understand and that's who we also need to help, to make that process a little bit easier.'' Added Mrs. Simons: "I saw the final drawings yesterday and it's 9,485 square feet, a huge place, but what a wonderful building. It looks magnificent and is landscaped beautifully and I'm proud to be a part of the project and proud that everyone here is a part of the project.'' Mrs. Simons also thanked BF&M who have been the sponsors of Women's Health and Breast Cancer Awareness Month for the last four years, as well as the endless volunteers and the committee members who made the October 4 walk such a success.

"They are a wonderful corporate sponsor and we can't thank them enough,'' she said.

There were some 800 tee shirts printed up for those participating in the walk, with over 850 walkers signing up and 600-odd actually participating.

"When we met back in July/August to start planning for October we set ourselves a financial goal of $100,000 to raise during the month of October,'' revealed Judy Panchaud White, Executive Vice President for Operations at BF&M.

"We sat around the conference table at BF&M and said `aren't we being overly ambitious, I don't think we can raise $100,000' and Ann Mello said `Go for it!' "Anybody who knows Ann; you know what she's like. I'm pleased to announce we have collected $123,000 and there is money still coming in, especially from some of our corporate sponsors.'' The organisers were pleased at the response to the tee shirts, having increased the number from the 600 who registered for the walk last year.

"So this year my assistant, Terry DeSilva, said `we'll order 800 tee shirts, that should be more than enough' but again we were astounded and pleased that we actually ran out of tee shirts on the night of October 4 with over 850 walkers registered. We had 600-odd actually walk on the night so we had two hundred who provided us with donations but didn't actually walk.'' Of the $123,000, some $83,700 came from pledges collected by the walkers.

And because of the high numbers, which provided challenges for traffic control, the organisers are now looking at another route for next year. "When we started four years ago we had about 150 walkers, which shows it has been growing in leaps and bounds which is absolutely fabulous for TB and Cancer,'' said Mrs. Panchaud White.

"However, sometimes you can become a victim of your own success and having 600 walkers coming along East Broadway is a bit dangerous. We have met with the Police subsequent to the walk and using some of the suggestions of the Police we are in the process of mapping out an alternate route for next year.

"Who knows, next year we could be topping 1,000, so we need to make the walk safer.'' Said the TB, Cancer and Health president: "What amazes us year in, year out, when you think that there are over 350 registered charities in this Island, just how generous Bermudian residents and the corporate people are. It's just overwhelming.''