Livingston Knights raise $1,600 for breast cancer research

Livingston's Knights youth baseball program raised $1,600 for breast cancer research through an apparel fundraiser, the third straight year the program has raised money for the cause.

The Knights, the travel arm of Livingston Little League, this year partnered with the Thunder softball program, led by Dave Nankivell, to sell apparel benefiting the Cure Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF), the West Essex Tribune reported. Players, families and other Livingston community members took part in the effort.

The fundraiser fell during Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October.

CBCF traces its origins to Carly Albinder, who at age 12 began making beaded key rings to raise money after her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. She sold more than 700 key rings and donated over $10,000 to Dr. Larry Norton's lab at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Her father, Andrew Abramson, founded the organization in 2007 to continue that work, according to the foundation's website. The nonprofit has raised more than $13 million since then.

The Knights' donation adds to a broader Breast Cancer Awareness Month effort across Livingston. The township's Health Department held its annual Go Pink for Breast Cancer event on Thursday, Oct. 1, at Livingston Town Hall, featuring breast cancer education from the Health Department and RWJ Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center, blood pressure screenings, and giveaways, according to a township announcement.

Livingston Club Pilates and Twisted Tulip of Livingston also participated in the Go Pink event.

The township noted that an estimated one in eight women will develop breast cancer during their lifetime and that there are 4 million breast cancer survivors in the United States. Health officials recommend that women aged 40 and older discuss mammogram screening schedules with their health care providers.

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