Dempsey Center Recognized with Avon Foundation Award From left, Mary Dempsey, Kerry Irish and Patrick Dempsey at the 8th annual Avon Foundation Awards Celebration in New York City. Central Maine Medical Center’s Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing has been recognized with an Avon Foundation award. Representatives of The Patrick Dempsey Center were among those attending The Hope Honors, the eighth annual Avon Foundation Awards Celebration, held recently in New York City. This year’s event celebrated the foundation’s recent $1.6 million annual fund-raising effort. Since its inception in 2001, the foundation has raised $15.6 million that has been dedicated to ending breast cancer and domestic violence. The Avon grant was given to CMMC under Avon's Safety Net Hospital grant program. Cindy Harradon served as co-Investigator for the grant. During the event, actor Patrick Dempsey and his wife, Jillian, presented the 100th Avon Foundation Safety Net grant to the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope and Healing. Accepting the grant were Dempsey Center Director Kerry Irish and Dempsey Center Coordinator Mary Dempsey. Avon Foundation Safety Net awards provide funds to hospitals and clinics that provide breast health services for the medically underserved in their community. The grant to the Patrick Dempsey Center will help CMMC better reach community members in the Lewiston-Auburn area, surrounding rural areas by funding state-of-the art digital mammography equipment, patient navigator staff, and transportation assistance for some women with breast cancer. The Avon Foundation, a public charity, is a global leader and change agent in the causes of breast cancer and domestic violence, and Avon is the largest corporate supporter of the breast cancer cause. These issues continue to be of grave concern: there is a new diagnosis of breast cancer in the U.S. every three minutes, and one in three women worldwide is a victim of violence, while some 10 million children witness domestic violence in the U.S. each year. Since 1992, the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade has supported access to care and finding a cure in more than 50 countries. Avon Speak Out Against Domestic Violence was launched in 2004 and has now rolled out in a dozen countries. In addition, the Avon Foundation supports emergency and disaster relief. Total funds raised and awarded worldwide for all these causes exceeds $660 million. Hosting this year’s Avon Foundation Awards Celebration were Andrea Jung, chairman and chief executive officer at Avon Products, Inc., and Carol Kurzig, Avon Foundation’s executive director. Other award presenters and special guests included actress and designer Lauren Conrad, personal finance expert Suze Orman, designer Cynthia Rowley, and renowned breast cancer surgeon and best-selling author Susan Love, M.D. The event also featured a special musical performance by Jordin Sparks. For more information please visit the Avon Foundation.