Partner Spotlight: ABCD - After Breast Cancer Diagnosis
Each month we spotlight a partner who supports 88Nine.
This month, meet ABCD: After Breast Cancer Diagnosis and what song they can't stop listening to, below:
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Name, title, organization you are representing
Morgan Oldenburg from ABCD: After Breast Cancer Diagnosis. ABCD mentor, donor, and daughter of the late Melodie Wilson Oldenburg who founded the organization
What's one song you can't stop listening to?
I don't really have a song of the moment right now! I can have a short music attention span - that's why I love all the new music I hear on 88Nine!
What are you most passionate about in regards to what is happening in our community and what is ABCD doing for the community?
In the Milwaukee community - and all over the country - ABCD provides free, personalized, one-to-one support and focuses on helping and nurturing those diagnosed with breast cancer now. When my mom, Melodie Wilson Oldenburg, launched ABCD in 1999, it was her vision that no one should feel alone after hearing the words “you have breast cancer.” Her idea remains the heart of ABCD, and matching professionally trained volunteer breast cancer survivors (Mentors) with patients, families and friends (Participants) who need support remains our mission focus. These connections go way beyond similar diagnosis, scans, and biopsies. They are based on who a person is – how old she is, what her family situation is, what kind of support she may already have, and so much more.
I am so passionate about ABCD's mission because I truly believe in the support it offers people but also because it is my mom's legacy. I am honored to help continue her legacy and think that immediate, emotional, personally matched support is so important.
How did ABCD get started and what is in store for 2018?
I was in high school when my mom officially founded ABCD and it was really inspiring to see her passion and her ability to persuade people to help her who she knew would add so much to ABCD. :) What she started because she saw a need for compassionate support from people who had "been there" has now become recognized in the medical world and is becoming an ever-increasing important part of treatment.
ABCD is really focused on service and financial stability this year. We got a huge boost of support from Keith Mardak, Chairman and CEO of the Hal Leonard Corporation in Fall 2017, when he offered ABCD a four-year, $2 million challenge grant to launch the Mardak 2020 Breast Cancer Initiative. This is the largest donation in our history! Launched in 2018, the Initiative’s goal is to double the number of people we serve each year by deepening and expanding relationships with healthcare facilities, making a significant investment in marketing and outreach initiatives, and expanding services to underserved populations. Our hope is that every woman or man who is diagnosed or living with breast cancer knows about ABCD and has access to our critical services, starting right here in Southeastern Wisconsin.
I’m really happy to share that in the first four months of 2018, we are already serving more people than previous years. In fact, ABCD created 151 matches to date this year, compared to 96 in 2017!
Why do you choose to support 88Nine?
I support 88Nine because I love Milwaukee, and I love that 88Nine embodies and embraces so many things that are Milwaukee. I love the local music, community support, and especially community stories! (In addition to supporting ABCD, I am also the co-founder of LIFT Field Hockey located right here in Milwaukee, and 88Nine featured us in a community story last year too!)
