OCEAN CITY — “I just think it’s really important to give back to your community, and this is one way to do it,” Aria Mazer said of the upcoming Toast Pink dinner. “Cancer touches everybody’s life in one way or another, whether you’re going through it yourself, family members, friends.”
Toast Pink is set to present La Dolce Vita, a fundraiser to benefit cancer patients and their families, from 6 to 11 p.m. April 18 at the Flanders Hotel.
Tickets are $150 and include an evening of gourmet dining, auctions and dancing to the sounds of the FM Band at the historic boardwalk hotel.
Toast Pink is a 501(c)(3) organization, co–founded by Joseph Orazi and Mazer in 2012. Tickets are available at toastpink.org. Email info@toastpink.org for more information.
“We financially assist cancer patients and their families who live and work in our community,” Mazer said, noting the organization is 100 percent volunteers — “very grass roots.”
“Our passion is to help those who are going through what are arguably the most difficult times in their lives,” the Ventnor resident added.
Orazi, a real estate agent with Long & Foster, and Mazer, a cosmetologist in Margate, formed the organization following a breast cancer walk on the boardwalk about 15 years ago. Orazi’s daughter is a cancer survivor.
Mazer said following the walk, two of her very good friends were diagnosed with cancer.
“They were young and at the time, I wanted to do something. So I put a quick fundraiser together and the money we raised I gave to them,” she said. “You could see the relief on their faces, and that was when I knew I wanted to deal directly with the patients.”
Toast Pink holds fundraisers and awareness events throughout the year to help those on the cancer journey pay for care, transportation, mortgages and other expenses strained by their disease.
“Often, as a result of treatment, careers are put on hold, jobs fall by the wayside and bills go unpaid. We are one of the few charitable organizations that concentrate on these neglected areas,” Mazer said.
The organization has 10 members, including a group that vets applications and decides whom to benefit and what bill or bills to pay.
Mazer said local cancer care institutes reach out to the organization when they have patients in need, even helping to fill out the application.
As the group evolves — this is the 10th year for the dinner at the Flanders — members are looking to help more people in need.
“As we grow, we need more funds,” Mazer said.
The goal is to sell 150 tickets each year and so far sales are falling short of that goal. Mazer said anyone can buy tickets up until the event starts.
She said the event would not be possible without “the generous business community” in southern New Jersey.
“We ask them for sponsorships for program books, items to put in auctions, and they’re just all so very gracious,” Mazer said.
To date, the group has funded applications in excess of $100,000.
“Since we are 100 percent volunteer, more than 80 percent of the funds we receive go to those who need it most,” Mazer said. “It’s really a nice evening out and supporting a very worthy cause.”
– By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
