TRAVERSE CITY — Diane Pare is intimately acquainted with cancer, but the disease is no friend.
"I've had skin cancer five times and I've lost 50 people in my life to cancer, including my mother," she said. But it wasn't until her husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2008 that the Suttons Bay woman decided she had to act.
"That took us over the edge. That's when I knew I had to do something," said Pare, who put her church fundraising skills and community contacts to use by forming a team for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life event in Leelanau County.
The effort raised $8,000 and led to several more successful fundraisers in the area. In just two years, Pare and her friends collected $24,000 for cancer research. Along the way, they heard scores of stories about Leelanau County families struggling with the disease — enough stories to inspire Pare and her friends to establish the Leelanau Cancer Fund just for county residents.
The group has been meeting since July to plan its first fundraising event for the fund, the Leelanau La-TEA-Da High Tea. Proceeds from the June 24 event will be deposited into a separate account and managed by the Munson Healthcare Regional Foundation.
"There are going to be 130 people in Leelanau County that are going to be diagnosed with cancer this year," said Pare, a co-organizer of the event. "The foundation will help us provide funds to county patients who need financial assistance with basic necessities such as gas, food, pharmacy and utilities. All profits from the tea stay in our county to help Leelanau families."
The tea will take place in the grand tradition of a formal British high tea and will feature elegant place settings designed by more than a dozen women from around the county. It is modeled after the Antrim County High Tea for Breast Cancer Prevention, which raises money for mammograms and other services for women in that county each year.
The tea has struck a chord in Leelanau County, where few have been untouched by cancer, Pare said. Many of those helping to organize the event, like Christina and Andrew Pfeufer, have had personal experience with the disease.
The Lake Leelanau couple will host the event at their century-old barn facility, Field of Flowers Farm, even though Andrew is undergoing a second round of chemotherapy for Stage 4 colon cancer.
"We've had a lot of cancer in our lives. My mom died of cancer at 47, his father died of cancer at 53," said Christina, who grows specialty cut flowers for the floral trade and for special events like weddings and parties. "When we were approached by Diane we didn't hesitate. We've always donated to the Cancer Society but we can't ever financially donate that kind of money. But we can donate our property."
Peggy Donaghy, whose husband also has cancer, will help cater the event with about 10 volunteers.
"I think it's nice because the money helps families get through cancer rather than going to research," said Donaghy, owner of Ethnic Garden Catering in Suttons Bay. "More and more people have had it come into their lives. I really don't know anyone who hasn't had it touch their families."
Besides Earl Grey tea, the menu will feature dainty tea sandwiches like shrimp with herb cream cheese and arugula, and cucumber with herb cream cheese and watercress.
Other tea fare will include fresh strawberry tarts with a frangipane base and strawberry glaze, Gorgonzola grapes rolled in Gorgonzola cream and toasted walnuts, spinach and leek mini-tarts, cherry chicken salad in mini-rolls, mushroom strudel, and blini with smoked salmon and creme fraiche caviar.
Already the group has brought in more than $5,000 for the Leelanau Cancer Fund through ticket sales and event donations, said Julie Friley, coordinator of annual giving and stewardship for the Munson Healthcare Regional Foundation. The funds will be used to help Leelanau County cancer patients under Munson care who have been identified by medical social workers as meeting needs criteria.
"Many people when they're going through a health care crisis can't work and support themselves while they're receiving treatment," Friley said. "So that money goes directly to pay bills they cannot pay."
Friley said the funds will be restricted and can't be used or diverted for other purposes.
The Munson Healthcare Regional Foundation also manages patient needs and women's cancer funds for patients anywhere in the service area.
Tickets for the Leelanau La-TEA-Da High Tea are $50; for reservations or more information, call Sue Olenzak at 256-7219.
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