PR Contact:

Lauren Zumpano
Resound Marketing
609-279-0050 x.103
lauren@resoundmarketing.com

 

For Immediate Release:

 

Family Reach Foundation Adds Non-Profit Fundraising & Events Veteran to Team

Carla Tardif Brings Passion and Experience to Role of Director of Development & Operations

 

Parsippany, NJ and Boston, MA - April 14, 2008 -

Family Reach Foundation, a non-profit organization providing financial relief to families fighting pediatric cancers, today announced that it has added industry veteran Carla Tardif as Director of Development and Operations. Previously the Founder and President of non-profit consultancy CMT Entertainment, Carla brings nearly two decades of event planning and fundraising experience to the Family Reach team. She will focus on increasing awareness and fundraising support for Family Reach through corporate partnerships, cause marketing campaigns, and operational development. 

"We are thrilled to have someone with Carla's experience and passion join our team," said Rick Morello, the President and Executive Director of Family Reach. "She will allow us to fulfill our mission in extraordinary new ways and help us touch hundreds of families in the coming years."

 

Carla's dedication to the Family Reach mission stems from a personal promise she made to her Syracuse University classmate and friend, former NFL player Pat Kelly, before he passed away from cancer in 2003. Through the NFL, Pat frequently visited pediatric wards at hospitals across the country, and saw first-hand the devastating impact that seemingly small expenses, such as cab fare and groceries, had on the families of the patients.

"Pat recognized long ago that it was the everyday bills that were the last straw to families who were already struggling with such incredible emotional and financial hardships. He opened my eyes to the issue, and I promised him I would find a way to help," said Carla. "I'm so honored to have the opportunity to fulfill that promise by working with Family Reach Foundation, which provides those very families with the relief they so desperately need."

After graduating from Syracuse University in 1987, Carla spent six years with The Muscular Dystrophy Association in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston, where she was responsible for planning special events, telethons, auctions, and galas. Upon discovering that the son of a close friend had muscular dystrophy, Carla teamed up with her friend Pat Kelly to run a series of high-profile fundraisers with NFL athletes to raise awareness for congenital muscle diseases. As the project evolved, Carla became an active fundraiser and resource to foundations, non-profit organizations, and corporations alike, and in 1999, she founded CMT Entertainment.

 

About Family Reach Foundation

Headquartered in Parsippany, NJ, Family Reach Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides financial relief and heartfelt support to families fighting pediatric cancers and other life-threatening diseases. Family Reach is driven by the courage and memory of Christopher Colangelo and Kristine Morello-Wiatrak, who lost their battles against pediatric cancers and are the inspiration to help families manage and overcome the overwhelming challenges of the disease.  Since Family Reach's original roots dating back to 1981, it has helped hundreds of families from Maine to California cope with the financial and emotion burdens of cancer. Funds provided support medical and non-medical expenses that arise during a patient's treatment period. Family Reach is partnered with some of the leading cancer hospitals in the U.S., including Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Dana-Farber, New York Presbyterian, and Robert Wood Johnson, to reach families in great need. Its goal is to support 1,000 families per year by 2012 by expanding fundraising efforts, and by building ties with other prominent hospitals that serve patients and their caregivers. For more information, please visit www.familyreach.org.
###