The Upper Chesapeake Health Foundation’s Starnight Gala Raises More Than $1.2 Million for Cancer LifeNet

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Elizabeth Wise, President and Chief Executive Officer of University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health, is joined by Jay Young, Immediate Past Chair of The Upper Chesapeake Health Foundation, and Orsia Young, Starnight Chair, at the 2022 Starnight Gala, which raised more than $1.2 million for Cancer LifeNet. (Photo By Jim Lockard Photography)

Most successful Starnight ever raises funds for Cancer LifeNet, which provides free-of-charge supportive care services to those living with a cancer diagnosis

The Upper Chesapeake Health Foundation’s Starnight Gala raised a record of more than $1.2 million for Cancer LifeNet, which provides free-of-charge supportive care services to all residents of Harford and Cecil counties, regardless of where cancer treatment is received. 

Six hundred fifty guests attended the biennial gala, the first in four years, on October 8 at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel.

The funds raised at the event were thanks to generous sponsors, table hosts and gifts made through Fund-A-Need, which provided an opportunity for guests to make a donation at the gala.

The 2022 Starnight theme was “One Team, One Dream” and featured dining and dancing to DJ Kopec and Mood Swings. During a moving video, Chrissy and Paul Muddiman shared their personal journey with the Kaufman Cancer Center and Cancer LifeNet teams. Watch the video below or a link to the video may be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUfjdm6BK40.

YouTube player

Gala leadership included Orsia Young, Chair, and Janie Kilby and Jayne Klein, Vice Chairs. Assisting on the committee were Sarah Klein and Rosemary Hajek. Jay Young and Marshall Klein served as Fund-A-Need Facilitators. Presenting Sponsors were Jay and Orsia Young, The Kelly Group and The Deyesu Family.

“Starnight was an amazing evening. Seeing our community come together to support our shared commitment to our health care mission, and particularly to Cancer LifeNet, was incredibly inspiring,” said Elizabeth Wise, MSN, MBA, President and Chief Executive Officer of University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health. “Our generous donors help us to provide care that is accessible, world-class and quality-driven close to home. Deepest thanks to all who supported Starnight.”

Cancer LifeNet, located at the Kaufman Cancer Center at University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air, would not be sustainable without philanthropy. The program, founded in 2006, is funded fully through the generosity of friends and neighbors. Cancer LifeNet’s team of professionals are able to provide free-of-charge resources to care for and support the physical, financial, psychological and emotional aspects of living with a cancer diagnosis. Cancer LifeNet makes a positive impact in the lives of local cancer patients and their loved ones at a time when it is needed most.  

“The goal of Starnight has always been to raise enough funds to provide a literal life net of care and support to our cancer patients and their families when they need it most,” said Orsia Young, Starnight Chair. It has been such an honor to be part of a team that made this happen. We are grateful to every volunteer and donor.”

For those who would like to make a donation in support of Starnight and Cancer LifeNet, visit https://www.uchfoundation.org/starnight-gala/.

About University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health
University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health, part of the University of Maryland Medical System, includes the University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center and the Patricia D. and M. Scot Kaufman Cancer Center on its Bel Air campus. Most recently, it opened The Klein Family Harford Crisis Center in Bel Air offering services for behavioral health. The Senator Bob Hooper House in Forest Hill is an assisted living facility that specializes in hospice. The University of Maryland Harford Memorial Hospital has been operating in the community for over a century and is located in Havre de Grace. The leading health care system and the second largest private employer in Harford County, UM Upper Chesapeake Health offers a broad range of health care services, specialty care, technology and facilities to the residents of northeastern Maryland. Visit    www.umms.org/uch for more information.

About the University of Maryland Medical System

The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) is an academic private health system, focused on delivering compassionate, high quality care and putting discovery and innovation into practice at the bedside. Partnering with the University of Maryland School of Medicine and University of Maryland, Baltimore who educate the state’s future health care professionals, UMMS is an integrated network of care, delivering 25 percent of all hospital care in urban, suburban and rural communities across the state of Maryland. UMMS puts academic medicine within reach through primary and specialty care delivered at 11 hospitals, including the flagship University of Maryland Medical Center, the System’s anchor institution in downtown Baltimore, as well as through a network of University of Maryland Urgent Care centers and more than 150 other locations in 13 counties. For more information, visit www.umms.org.

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