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IRISH EXAMINER | January 18th, 201720 awardsexaminer

 Frances Pope Memorial Foundation

                                     Hosts 35th Annual Friendship Ball

                                     On Friday, February                sight of its mission.
                                              24th, the Frances
                                              Pope Memorial             Just as it was on that first
                                     Foundation will celebrate
                                     35 years of helping fami-          night in 1982, it is full of great
                                     lies cope with the chal-
                                     lenges of childhood cancer.        music, fine food and spirits,

                                        The Pope Foundation’s           genuine camaraderie and a
                                     first fundraising event was
                                     held on Saturday, February         serious commitment to raise
                                     13, 1982, with a small circle
                                     of friends in the basement of      lots of money for families
                                     St. Stephen of Hungary
                                     Parish, in a corner of New         who have children battling
                                     York City called Yorkville.
                                                                        cancer.
                                        Brought on by one fami-
                                     ly’s tragic loss of their beauti-  This year the Frances Pope
                                     ful baby girl, a true cross sec-
                                     tion of a great city came          Memorial     Foundation
                                     together; friends, family,
                                     musicians, restaurateurs,          is honoring two fine men
                                     clergy, numerous members
                                     of the IBEW, Local #3, as          who helped them get to
                                     well as members of New
                                     York’s Finest and Bravest.         where they are today -

                                        They came together not          Andrew K. Breslin and
                                     only to honor the memory of
                                     Franny Pope, but with the          Raymond C. Baccala.
                                     intent of helping other fami-
                                     lies who were facing the chal-     Andy Breslin, born in Co.
                                     lenges of caring for a child
                                     with cancer.                       Cavan but raised in Kells, Co.

                                        Thanks to the wonderful         Meath, is the owner of some
                                     generosity of their ever-
                                     growing circle of friends their    of New York’s most loved
                                     primary annual fundraiser
                                     has moved from the base-           restaurants, The Red Lion,
                                     ment of St. Stephen’s to the
                                     Grand Ballroom of the icon-        Banc Cafe, Whitman and
                                     ic Pierre Hotel - never losing
                                                                        Bloom and The Ellington, to
                                     Andy Breslin
                                                                        name a few.                         Ray Baccala

                                                                        In addition, he owns Smith          Center of which Andy is a
                                                                                                            member of the board. He is
                                                                        & Wollensky in London and           also an active member of the     in 1981. Today Ray holds the     His history of charitable
                                                                                                            Knights of St. Patrick and was   position of President of      work includes being a com-
                                                                        several pubs in Ireland,            their honoree in 2013.           Tradition Securities and      mittee member for numer-
                                                                                                                                             Derivatives, Inc.             ous organizations which
                                                                        including Cafe Insane and              Ray Baccala is a native of                                  includes Paul O’Neill’s Right
                                                                                                            Brooklyn but has made New           Ray also has an extensive  Field Charities, the David
                                                                        Whelan’s of Wexford Street          Jersey his home for the past     history of community          Wright Foundation & the
                                                                                                            27 years where he and his        involvement. He has served    Linda E. Cardinale Multiple
                                                                        in Dublin.                          wife, Dianne raised their two    as President of both the      Sclerosis Center at
                                                                                                            children, Samantha and           Marlboro Little League and    CentraState Health Care
                                                                        Andy and his beautiful              Robert.                          the Marlboro Mustangs         System. C
                                                                                                                                             Diamond Club.
                                                                        wife Caroline, reside in               He began his Wall Street
                                                                                                            career as a part-time clerk for
                                                                        Manhattan with their                Salomon Brothers in 1979
                                                                                                            and was promoted to trader
                                                                        adorable 10 year old daugh-

                                                                        ter, Kaela.

                                                                        Besides being a long-time

                                                                        supporter of the Pope                                                         About The Frances Pope
                                                                                                                                                        Memorial Foundation
                                                                        Foundation, Andy has been a
                                                                                                                                             After the loss of their daughter, Franny, in the sum-
                                                                        generous supporter of                                                mer of 1981, Mary O’Dowd and Tony Pope vowed

                                                                        numerous organizations                                                 to do something to keep her memory alive while
                                                                                                                                             helping other families who were still facing the chal-
                                                                        especially The Irish Arts
                                                                                                                                                lenges of childhood cancer. They founded the
                                                                                                                                             Frances Pope Memorial Foundation in 1982 to help
                                                                                                                                             to pay expenses associated with caring for children

                                                                                                                                               with cancer that are NOT covered by insurance.
                                                                                                                                                They make every effort to respond to the unique
                                                                                                                                                needs of each individual family. Expenses can
                                                                                                                                             include travel, accommodations and living costs for
                                                                                                                                               families receiving medical care when away from
                                                                                                                                               home. In some cases, they pay for other costs to
                                                                                                                                               ensure families can continue to make ends meet,
                                                                                                                                              such as childcare for siblings, or even car or mort-
                                                                                                                                              gage payments. They also try to minimize the bur-
                                                                                                                                              den of paperwork, are quick to respond and stick
                                                                                                                                             with the families through the duration of their child’s

                                                                                                                                                                          illness.
                                                                                                                                                The Frances Pope Memorial Foundation works
                                                                                                                                             closely with social workers from many major health
                                                                                                                                               care systems in the metropolitan area. A family
                                                                                                                                             can be referred by a health care provider, a friend
                                                                                                                                               of the foundation or they can send a request via

                                                                                                                                                  their website at francespopefoundation.org.
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