Achieving a Milestone
April 10, 2019
Dear Donors:
Through your commitment and financial support, 2018 was a momentous year for Angie’s Spa. We reached our goal of funding 10 programs sites across the country in 10 years, raising over a million dollars. Angie’s Spa had the best fundraising year ever, surpassing our goal of over $200,000 in donations. Most importantly, Angie’s Spa raised awareness about the importance of therapeutic complementary treatments, with thousands of people finding relief during their cancer treatments from free massages, acupuncture, and more that we have funded.
2018 was also a seminal moment when we realized continued success would mean taking the organization to a higher level of engagement and fundraising that would require hiring professional staff. Angie’s Spa has always taken pride in staying true to the tenet that all donations go directly to patient programs and not for salaries. However, our small team of volunteers has reached its capacity to manage our growing organization without professional staffing. We have decided against this strategy.
Rather, we will hand over the day to day responsibilities and all administrative functions to the ten cancer centers we are currently funding. The programs will maintain the name Angie’s Spa and continue to honor Angie. Distribution of all remaining program funds to the cancer centers will allow them to operate for a year or more without additional donations. We will cease organizational fundraising campaigns and encourage all donors to give directly to the existing programs. Angie’s Spa Foundation will continue in an advisory capacity to advise the programs and donors as needed.
The Board of Directors has approved a strategy to complete the transition by the end of this fiscal year, June 30. 2019.
We hope the work of Angie’s Spa Foundation will continue to grow as a result of the cancer center staff and the grateful patients at all the sites.
The final Annual Report will include a ten year history of Angie’s Spa.
Thank you, dear donors, for all your support and encouragement for a decade! This includes our friends and families, who have been steadfast in their support, as well as the many people we didn’t know before, who came to believe in and support our mission, and are now friends for life. For that we are incredibly grateful.
Sincerely,
The Board of Directors
Angie’s Spa, Inc.
There’s wisdom in the medicine of both worlds
We need to utilize every tool available in the fight against cancer, which include integrative therapy treatments such as acupuncture, massage therapy and yoga. There is mounting clinical evidence showing the effectiveness of these methods in reducing the pain, stress & anxiety cancer patients go through during treatment. Despite the tremendous benefits, the majority of the treatments are still not covered by insurance.
100% of your donation goes directly to providing relief to cancer patients
We’re showing cancer how we take care of people while they struggle against it. Coming together because we share a common goal—to help treat cancer patients, we will not stop until we’ve helped as many patients as possible. Why?
Because we understand the profound joy of helping others. And these treatments, though generally accepted as important adjuncts for most medical illnesses, are not covered by insurance companies.
Meet Angie
Angie’s Spa was named in memory of Angie Levy, who tragically lost her life to metastatic breast cancer in November of 2007 at the young age of 36. Diagnosed at age 27, Angie spent the next 9 years trying to live a normal life while waging the long battle for remission and a cure. During that time, in spite of her illness, she was able to graduate from Wharton School of Business, further her career at the banking firm JP Morgan and participate in a number of meaningful charities. It was Angie’s upbeat attitude and love for life’s small indulgences that inspired the idea of Angie’s Spa. We know Angie would have loved the idea of doing something so beneficial for a patient undergoing cancer treatment.
Meet our grateful patients
We receive messages all the time from patients whose lives are changed by people like you, people who support the mission of Angie’s Spa Cancer Foundation.
100% of the over $1,000,000 we’ve raised has gone directly to provide relief
It feels good to say that. We’ve succeeded in providing all of the donations we’ve received from caring individuals like yourself directly to the hospital programs we fund. Our goal is to double our donations by 2019 so we can provide more relief for our patients.
“ The massage therapist provided a back/neck/spine massage due to my posture, tension in shoulders, and pain between my shoulders. During the treatment she listened to her soul/intuition and provided relief that carried over to my soul&heart and left me with a smile, less stress, and NO PAIN between my shoulders. As a cancer warrior this lifted my spirit and I’m grateful for the opportunity Angie’s Spa provided me outside my Western medical treatment. I feel like a person who has cancer, not a cancer patient who is a person. Thank you.”
-J. Turner, Husband and Cancer Patient Hartford Hospital (Hartford,CT)
” This morning I experienced my first massage-wow! The tension is gone from my neck, shoulders and I feel warmth and rejuvenation. What a wonderful and restorative part of medical treatments. Thank you my back is still smiling,”
-P. Turner, Wife and Caregiver Hartford Hospital (Hartford, CT)
“I am very grateful for the massage therapy provided at Northridge Hospital’s Leavey Cancer Center. My cancer treatment procedure requires that I extend my left arm over my head and extend that position for extended periods of time. A long ago shoulder injury makes it painful for me to do this, but I know that relief is just around the corner from the caring and capable massage therapist always available after my procedure. It wouldn’t be an understatement to say that for me, this service has been invaluable. Thank you to massage therapists Fernando, Jassenia, and Kendra for easing my pain and Angie’s Spa for making it all possible. “
-M.S. cancer patient Northridge Medical Center (Northridge, CA)
“I am a lung cancer patient at Fitchburg Cancer Center(MA), my radiation treatment started on April 10, 2018. I could no longer swallow my own saliva. I could no longer eat or drink anything. My doctor at Dana Farber suggested a feeding tube be placed in me for the remainder of my radiation.
After 2 treatments of acupuncture within 48 hours my PAIN WAS GONE. I could swallow again and my pain went from 10+ to 0. This was my LIFE SAVER. I have now had 20 radiation treatments on my neck and throat PAIN FREE because of acupuncture. Thank you Acupuncture.”
-S. Lung cancer patient at Fitchburg Cancer Center (Fitchburg, MA)
“ My wife, Virginia, was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in August of 2014. The oncologist admitted Virginia the following week to Hartford Hospital(Hartford, CT) for intense chemotherapy treatments that lasted several months. Our nurse navigator, Barbara, was a Godsend and was sure to educate us as to the process and resources available to cancer patients at Hartford. One such resource was Angie’s Spa, a non-profit that works with their partner hospitals to provide free massage and other therapies to patients undergoing cancer care treatments. Barbara helped arrange for a massage session and that was the beginning of a wonderful friendship with her therapist. I would often call to check on her and was told she would have to call me back as she was getting a massage. Angie’s Spa introduced us to the benefit of this type of therapy. My wife once commented that it was “better than morphine.” Sadly, my V succumbed to her disease but she had a request as she was receiving hospice care in our home. “Do you think the massage therapist could make a house call?” Of course she did, not on Angie’s Spa dime, but we would have never met her without the folks at Angie’s Spa. A few days before she passed I asked her if there was any particular cause that she wanted to name for donations. I think you know the answer.”
Bill Murphy
“After my Angie’s Spa massage treatments, it was like a weight had been lifted. You don’t realize how badly you need a massage until you get one. I wanted to take a nap; it was so relaxing. From the atmosphere of the MediSpa to the people, to the treatment itself, it’s all very relaxing and welcoming.” -J.H., patient at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, MD
“I am a cancer patient at the Leavey Cancer Center who recently went through radiation treatment. I want to express my sincere gratitude to Angie’s Spa for providing services that are so incredibly helpful for somebody going through cancer treatment. It was so nice to focus on something therapeutic and calming during a period of tremendous anxiety.”
-Karen Stein, Northridge Hospital Medical Center (Northridge, CA)