The Ellen Hermanson Foundation will host its 30th Summer Gala on Saturday from 6:30 to 11:30 p.m. at the Bridgehampton Tennis and Surf Club. The evening will begin with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres on the club’s deck, followed by dinner, dancing, live and silent auctions, and finally a bonfire on the beach with s’mores.
It all honors Julie Ratner, who helped establish the foundation in 1997 in memory of her sister, Ellen Hermanson, who spent years advocating for patients with breast cancer and their families after her own diagnosis in 1989.
“The gala is our principal fund-raising event of the year,” Mady Schuman, the foundation’s executive director, said. “We raise funds throughout the year, but the funds that we raise at the gala cover almost half of our entire operating budget. It’s really very important to us.”
The foundation pays for a wide range of services that support patients through many aspects of treatment. Through gifts to the Ellen Hermanson Breast Center, the group provided more than 10,000 screenings and diagnostic procedures last year — “the majority of them free of charge,” Ms. Schuman said.
The foundation also funds Ellen’s Well, which runs free psychosocial support groups and programs for patients, and provides grants through a community partnership program to the Shinnecock Health Center, the Bridgehampton Childcare and Recreational Center, OLA of Eastern Long Island, and the Retreat. The organizations use the money to support their clients through broader educational outreach initiatives and by covering specific “necessities of daily living,” including transportation to medical appointments and child care.
“Although the Hamptons are sort of synonymous with the lifestyles of the rich and famous, there is an economic underclass of women who are medically underserved, and the incidence of breast cancer is extreme in these communities,” Ms. Schuman said. “Even among the general population, one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetimes. So every time we provide a free mammogram to one of these women, in theory we could be saving that woman’s life.”
Tickets to the gala can be bought on the foundation’s website. Online registration is also now open for Ellen’s Run, an annual 5K run and walk through Southampton. It will begin at 9 a.m. on Aug. 17.
