Event partners.

Established in 2007, the annual Swim Across America Fairfield County (SAA-FC) Open Water Swim event has empowered hundreds of swimmers and volunteers to raise more than $5 million for Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy.

The event takes place each year in the Long Island Sound in Stamford, Connecticut. The next Open Water Swim will be Saturday, June 29, 2024.

Current ACGT Research Fellows funded by SAA-FC include:

• Juan Fueyo, MD (The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center)
• Brian Brown, PhD (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai)
• Sidi Chen, PhD (Yale University)

For 17 years, ACGT Research Fellows funded by Swim Across America include: Stephen Gottschalk, MD (St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital); Noriyuki Kasahara, MD, PhD (University of California, San Francisco); Khalid Shah, PhD, MSc (Harvard Medical School); Thomas Kipps, MD, PhD (University of California, San Diego); Arnob Banerjee, MD, PhD (University of Maryland School); John Bell, PhD (Ottawa Hospital Research Institute); Fan Yang, PhD (Stanford University); Samuel Katz, MD, PhD (Yale University School of Medicine); Crystal Mackall, MD (Stanford University); and Greg Delgoffe, PhD (University of Pittsburgh).

Whether you are a veteran swimmer, you’re looking to participate in your first Open Water Swim, or you want volunteer, we welcome you to help us “Make Waves to Fight Cancer.” In addition to the Open Water Swim each June, other public and private pools and clubs host pool swims throughout the summer to raise funds to fight cancer. You don’t even have to be a swimmer to participate! SAA My Way is a way to do any activity you want (walk, run, yoga, sky dive, etc.) to raise money to fight cancer.

With a mission to “Ride Bikes. End Cancer,” Leave It On The Road (LIOTR) is an elite long-distance cycling event founded in 2013 by Michael Tabtabai of Portland, OR, Andrew Hudon of Boulder, CO, and a cohort of cycling enthusiasts to raise money for cancer research.

Since 2018, the non-profit group’s fundraising rides have benefited Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy. Leave It on the Road has donated close to $139,000, including $39,000 in 2022, to help today’s most innovative researchers in advancing transformative approaches to curing cancer.

100% of donations from Leave It on the Road go directly to ACGT Research Fellows and research programs.

Inspired by their mother’s courageous battle with liposarcoma cancer, Ali, Matt and Jackie Landes organized the first annual Wendy Walk in 2010. Since then, their energy has galvanized hundreds of individuals in New York, Florida and California to walk for sarcoma research.

Wendy Walk is one of the few annual events dedicated to raising money for sarcoma research. There have been more than 40 walks with more than 10,000 walkers since the inaugural event in 2010. Wendy Walk has raised more than $610,000 to benefit Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy.

ACGT Research Fellows funded by Wendy Walk include:

• Stephen Gottschalk, MD (St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital)
• Crystal Mackall, MD (Stanford University)
• Seth Pollack, MD (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, now at Northwestern University)

Play for P.I.N.K. (Prevention, Immediate diagnosis, New technology, Knowledge) supports thousands of volunteers nationwide as they raise funds for research through sporting and lifestyle events to speed advances in breast cancer detection, treatment and survivorship.

In 2019, Innis Arden Golf Club in Old Greenwich, CT, added Alliance for Cancer Research as a beneficiary to their annual golf and tennis tournament, to honor and remember a beloved committee member, Bonnie Bancroft, who was lost to pancreatic cancer in 2020. Members and guests gather for golf, tennis, and dinner and sell raffle tickets during the event.

The 5th Innis Arden Golf Club Play for P.I.N.K. event was held August 12, 2023.