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2024 Gala for Life Chairs Win and Natalie Rockefeller.
Image by Bryan Clifton
2024 Gala for Life Raises $1 Million to Support UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute
| The 2024 Gala for Life, the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute’s signature black-tie fundraiser, raised over $1 million to benefit the state’s only bone marrow program at UAMS.
“We are so grateful to the generous sponsors, donors, volunteers and patrons who made this year’s event such a success,” said Michael Birrer, M.D., Ph.D., director of the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute. “Your gifts will provide critical funding for our hematology and oncology clinical and research programs, which offer the only in-state transplant and cellular therapy care for Arkansans with blood cancers.”
Nearly 600 people attended the 27th Gala for Life, fittingly held Sept. 27, at the Statehouse Convention Center’s Wally Allen Ballroom and foyer. The theme for the event was “The Light in the Dark,” and it was co-chaired by Natalie and Win Rockefeller.
“Chairing an event like this takes a great deal of commitment, vision and love for others. I can’t think of a couple who exemplifies all those qualities more than Natalie and Win Rockefeller,” said UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA.
Natalie and Win Rockefeller have served on the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute’s Board of Advisors for 16 years, both as chair and vice chair. They were involved from the beginning in the Seeds of Science cancer research grants program and the Envoys, the Cancer Institute’s young professionals’ group. They have funded and overseen numerous projects, including the first Mammovan and the Women Helping Women art project for the UAMS breast center.
“Natalie and Win have only missed the Gala for Life once since 2008 and that was when their twin boys were born in 2013,” Patterson said.
Attendees enjoyed a light-filled cocktail reception illuminated by hundreds of white LED lanterns hung from the ceiling. Guests had the opportunity to purchase lanterns to be displayed at the gala in honor of or in memory of a loved one.
For dinner, guests dined on filet, lobster and velvet coconut mousse in the ballroom decorated in deep blues in contrast to the all-white cocktail reception. UAMS patient Alan Stephenson, whose story was shared in a video at the event, was a guest of honor.
The Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation, Inc., served as lead sponsor. Lisenne Rockefeller and George Gleason were presenting sponsors, along with visionary sponsor Highlands Oncology and pioneer sponsors Natalie and Win Rockefeller.
Other special guests in attendance included U.S. Rep. French Hill and his wife Martha, a Cancer Institute Board member; Arkansas Treasury Secretary Larry Walther and his wife, Marge Schueck, a longtime Cancer Institute Board member; Arkansas state Rep. Denise Garner, who serves on the Cancer Institute Board and Arkansas state Reps. Ashley Hudson, Denise Ennett, Carol Dalby and Les Warren.
View photos of the event here.
A pioneer in the treatment of blood disorders and cancers, UAMS has been home to Arkansas’ only adult bone marrow transplant center since 1994, performing 12,731 transplants for patients with lymphomas, leukemias and multiple myeloma.