The national breast cancer movement began in the early 1990s on the East Coast and soon spread across the country. At that time, a small group of women gathered in Washington DC to develop a strategic plan to address the lack of funding for this disease. In 1991 the National Breast Cancer Coalition was founded. The WBCC was started in 1994 and quickly joined the movement. Today WBCC advocates are active on both the state and federal levels. In 2024 we marked the WBCC’s 30 years with an anniversary celebration in August and a look back at WBCC’s history as told by WBCC stakeholders.
WBCC 30th Anniversary Celebration
Thank you to everyone who came out to the WBCC 30th Anniversary Celebration at Milwaukee’s City Hall on Friday, August 23! Special thanks to our program emcee, Jennifer Ott, to DJ Infotek for providing music, to our panel participants, and to members of the Milwaukee Fire Department for helping us honor 30 breast cancer survivors during the evening’s program.
Program Emcee
Jennifer Ott
President, Jennifer Ott Consulting
Leadership Development & Professional Skills Consultant
Breast Cancer Survivor
Music
DJ Infotek
Panelists
Susan LePlae Miller and Tara Latta, My Density Matters
Advocate Linda Hansen
Cyrus Ghajar, PhD, Director, Laboratory for the Study of Metastatic Microenvironments at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Dr. Kurt Oettel, Director of Gundersen Health System’s Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders
Event photography provided by Willie LaMar
View the event photo gallery.
Couldn’t celebrate with us in person? Consider making a donation in support of the WBCC.
Thanks to our event sponsors!
DBS Insurance Services, LLC
Kathleen Harris
Nothing Bundt Cakes
Sendik’s Whitefish Bay
Trader Joe’s
Stakeholder Interviews
In recognition of our 30th anniversary, we featured interviews with WBCC stakeholders past and present.
Dawn Anderson
Colleen Booth
Zandra Clevert
Jo DeMars
Sandra Gines
Kathleen Harris
Helen Lambron
Lindsey Nathan O’Connor
Interviews were conducted in writing and have been edited for clarity.
A History of Making Change Happen
Dawn Anderson set the tone for reflecting on what we’ve accomplished and what’s yet to be done in her spring 2024 blog post.
Everyone Loves a Parade
WBCC was in attendance at the 2024 Juneteenth parade in Milwaukee and at the 4th of July parade in Whitefish Bay. Thanks to those who came out to cheer us on!
WBCC vice president Dana Johnson, president Lindsey Nathan O’Connor and volunteers Soncera and Kamryn Gayle represented the WBCC during Milwaukee’s 2024 Juneteenth Day parade.
Dawn Anderson, WBCC president Lindsey Nathan O’Connor, Helen Lambron, WBCC vice president Dana Johnson and Dana’s son, Miles, carried the 30th anniversary banner during the Whitefish Bay 4th of July parade.
WBCC 30th anniversary logo design by Julie Thauer.