Mental Health and Community with Laura Leach, LMSW May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a time dedicated to highlighting the importance of mental health and the resources available to nourish. This month, we’re thrilled to have our incredible Volunteer and Program Coordinator, Laura Leach, LMSW, answer some of our questions on the importance of support...

Gilda’s Club and HopeKids Families Bond Over New Friends at Our Creepy Crawly Day of Fun Snakes and bearded dragons in costumes, oh my! Oh, and there were some pretty cute human critters too! This was not your usual Halloween shindig. It was creepy. And crawly. Literally. Thanks to Amanda DiMarzio and her son Elijah,...

Managing a cancer diagnosis throws so many curve balls it is hard to keep up. At Gilda’s Club, we want to help you find the right combination of changeups and fast balls to ensure you have the support you need to become an expert in your own field because we believe that cancer support should...

For over 20 years, Gilda’s Club Middle Tennessee has been the beneficiary of the Vanderbilt University Cancer Biology Student Association’s (CBSA) silent auction. While the obvious cancer research connection to Gilda’s Club is important and necessary, many don’t know the true origin behind this well-established relationship.   When Gilda’s Club Founder, Sandy Towers, found herself lost in the...

Jill Welbern-Tibbetts is no stranger to the impact that a loving and supportive community makes during a challenging time. When her daughter, Ashlee Welbern, was diagnosed with neuroblastoma at the age of three, she experienced an outpouring of love and support from friends and family. Despite the immense assistance from her loved ones, Jill was still...

“Just wait and see if it goes away.” I had gone to the doctor for a sinus infection, and in the process casually asked about a small lump I found in my breast. My doctor wasn’t concerned. I was too young. I was healthy (outside of that sinus infection), and even with a family history of...

As we reflect on our work in the last year and what we hope for the year to come, it is truly humbling and heartening that our days are overflowing with such beautiful moments of human connection.  Entering into a new year can sometimes bring excitement for a fresh start and a sense of hope. Other...

By: Lisa Taylor, Gilda’s Club Board Member I work for HCA, a company that supports and strongly encourages its colleagues to get involved in the community. A few years ago, Joanne Pulles, HCA’s Vice President of Community Engagement, introduced me to Gilda’s Club when I expressed interest in getting involved with a charity that helps...

By Harriet Schiftan, MSW, MAJCS, President and CEO  A little over a week ago, we held our biggest fundraiser of the year, the 2021 Red Door Bash. Like so many things these days, the event didn’t look the way we envisioned when we began planning it nearly a year ago, but wow! What a testament...

By: Liz Geller, LPC-MHSP While it can be helpful in difficult situations to try to find the positive – to “look on the bright side” and “find the silver lining” – life during a global pandemic has made such efforts of optimism feel cliché, challenging, and – on some days – downright impossible. It’s been...