On October 24, more than 600 people attended the Nancy Owens Breast Cancer Foundation (NOBCF) Luncheon at the Hilton Americas. The luncheon was back after a two-year break because of Covid. This was the most successful luncheon to-date, enabling the foundation to set new fundraising records and impact the community far deeper than ever before.
At the luncheon, the foundation donated $165,000 equally divided between the Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center at Baylor College of Medicine, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Department of Nanomedicine, Houston Methodist Research Institute. Dr. Xiang Zhang, of Baylor, Dr. Isabelle Bedrosian of MD Anderson and Dr. Allesandro Grattoni of Methodist accepted the generous check on behalf of their organizations.
Amy Bernstein, Chair of NOBCF since its inception turned over the chairmanship to Terri Guerra in 2019, Bernstein officially passed the baton yesterday. Bernstein is still extremely active in the Foundation and chairs its fund-raising committee. Bernstein was also honored to announce to the crowd that Terri Guerra was awarded the Houston Association of Realtors® prestigious John E. Wolf Community Service Award.
Guerra is committed to expanding the Foundation and continuing its commitment to raise funds throughout the year. The Foundation will host Fashion for the Cure in Spring 2023, there is even talk about a Pickle Ball Tournament!
The foundation is particularly grateful to its Pink Diamond Sponsor, Jennifer Hernandez-Legacy Mutual Mortgage who was also the Event Underwriter. Peggie Kohnert and Richard Yont generously donated at the Diamond level. The foundation is also appreciative of all its sponsors and donors including all who donated to the impressive silent auction, the Houston Association of Realtors® as their professional sponsor and TK Images as their photography sponsor.
Deborah Duncan of KHOUs Great Day Houston served as the Mistresses of Ceremonies and entertained everyone with her professionalism, wit, and genuine caring for all who have breast cancer. The guest speaker, Devon Still, retired NFL player, Author, Positive Psychology Practitioner and Podcast host gave an inspiring and touching speech that ended with the room all joining in a “game time” chant.
Another highlight at this year’s luncheon was the presentation of the “Nancy Owens Spirit of Courage Award,” which reflects the courage of an extraordinary individual in the real estate industry who has fought the battle against cancer and won. This year’s award was presented to Renee Davy. Davy, very much humbled by this honor, spoke briefly about her personal journey as a breast cancer survivor, she received a beautiful silver angel to remind her of her strength and perseverance.
The Nancy Owens Memorial Foundation was created in memory of Nancy Owens, a much loved and well-respected icon in the Houston real estate industry. Owens lost her courageous 20-year battle with breast cancer in September 2001. One of Owens’ final wishes, if she had survived her battle with cancer, was to dedicate a large part of her life to the fight against breast cancer and the continued advancement of its research towards finding a cure. It is that very dream that lives on today.
The NOBCF committee is volunteer-driven and proud of the fact that 100% of the proceeds are donated to local research projects. The committee board members are: Terri Guerra, Chairman, Amy Bernstein, Gloria Moorman, Jennifer Hernandez, Mariella Massa, Mary Piper and Peggie Kohner, committee members include Christina Sacco, Elizabeth Rankin Rice, Randee Kaplan, Robin Mueck, Tamara Mannen, Vicki Fullerton. Ellie Riney is the event coordinator.
NOBCF is one of the largest Realtor® organized charities in Houston. The foundation is committed to raising funds to donate to local projects that further medical research toward the advancement of treatment and, hopefully, one day, a cure for breast cancer. For more information or to donate, please call 713-932-1032 ext. 155 or visit www.NancyOwens.org.
