Atlanta Team in San Diego for Breast Cancer Walk

“You’ll be fine, and I’ll be walking next to you,” said Donna Newman to her good friend, Rina Wolfe, about 20 months ago, after being told about Wolfe’s breast cancer diagnosis. True to her word, when Newman learned about the Susan G. Koman 3-Day for the Cure walk in San Diego this year, she signed up to honor her friend as part of Atlanta’s Angels 4 Angels team.

“This team was so much about supporting me through my cancer journey,” Wolfe said, “I’m proud and humbled by their love.”

Approximately 2,300 walkers from 49 states showed up for the event to fund breast cancer research, treatment and support services (held from Nov. 19 to 21), including Debbi Chartash and Melody Maziar, the founders of Angels 4 Angels. Additional contributions raised by the 10 team members who walked in San Diego brought the fundraising total to over $88,000. Because Angels 4 Angels raised the highest amount per capita, the Atlanta-based multi-generational team was recognized with the “Small but Mighty Award” in a presentation on Nov. 20.

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Rina Wolfe gets support from her children and grandchildren. Megan Sheridan, Amy Sheridan, Tova Weiss, Rina Wolfe, Madison Weiss, Ashley Sheridan.

Joining Wolfe and Newman were Gretchen Buchanan, Roslyn Konter, Susan Sandler, Amy Sheridan (Wolfe’s daughter), Megan Sheridan (Wolfe’s granddaughter), former Atlantan Sue Rothstein, Saralyn Dunphy (Wolfe’s daughter from Knoxville), and Jeffrey Wolfe (stepson from Coral Gables). Cheering the team on were Wolfe’s daughter, Tova Weiss, and granddaughter, Madison Weiss, from Boca Raton.

Asked about how the city of San Diego responded to the 2021 walk, Newman said, “the city could not have been more hospitable. Police volunteered their time to make sure we were safe.” Indeed, officers stood at intersections, some rode bicycles, while others played music to be encouraging and friendly. San Diego residents shouted out words of thanks and applauded. Some even wore costumes like ballerina tutus over their pants. Walkers also dressed up in costumes, colorful T-shirts and hats.

San Diego police officers wear costumes to the three-day event.

The Angels 4 Angels Atlanta group stood out from the so-called “pink bubble” by wearing yellow hats. Besides the plethora of pink clothing, a sea of free pink tents set up in a nearby campground, available for registered walkers, couldn’t be missed. (The Angels 4 Angels team opted to stay at a nearby hotel.)

At a candle lighting ceremony on Saturday evening, Wolfe was one of three participants invited to speak about why she had started attending the walks. She spoke about how her team, founded by Chartash and Maziar, was formed in 2007 in memory of three young women from the metro Atlanta community who had lost their battles with breast cancer: Jill Alpert, Debbie Sonenshine, and her youngest sister, Lori Fierman.

In her remarks, Wolfe said, “the fourth Angel is in honor of all family and friends who are survivors and thrivers. In February 2020, I became one of the Angels we walk in honor of. I am now one year cancer-free. My way to remember my sister Lori is to pledge tzedakah and perpetuate ideals that were important to her. I am grateful for the sweetness of her life, and for the many acts of lovingkindness she did.”

San Diego was also Susan Sandler’s first 3-Day Walk. When her friend Rina reached out last summer, asking her to join the Angels 4 Angels team, “without blinking an eye, I told her to count me in,” Sandler said. For her birthday, she decided to ask family and Facebook friends to donate to her 3-Day Walk fund, recognizing that “breast cancer or some form of cancer impacts everyone, whether it’s a family member or someone you know.”

Roslyn Konter, Donna Newman and Rina Wolfe walk the sidewalks and streets of San Diego.

On the third evening, all the groups came together following the 60-mile walk. Special groups entered to a standing ovation: the volunteers, the youth corps, and the survivors, including Sue Rothstein and Rina Wolfe. Sandler went on to say how the camaraderie and the experience of being a 3-Day walker gave her a profound sense of hope.

Newman said that, unlike Atlanta’s annual Peachtree Road Race, for example, “this 3-Day walk was not a contest, not a race at all. Rather, it was a life affirming experience. It made me realize the value of life, and friendships.”

Rothstein, who is already making plans for the 2022 walk, said that the event will be held in Boston next August. Wolfe, who has already signed up, invites anyone who is interested in taking part to contact her.