State Fair, Onondaga County, Baldwin Fund announce new cancer research fundraiser

People attending the 2018 New York State Fair will be able to “help make the world a little cleaner and give a boost to breast-cancer research.”

Those attending concert at the St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater at Lakeview will have the same opportunity.

The New York State Fair, Onondaga County, and the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund of CNY (the Fund) have announced “Laurence Segal’s Cans For Cancer,” an effort to help fund breast-cancer research at Upstate Medical University through the recycling of returnable cans, the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets said in a news release.

Laurence Segal is a cancer research advocate from DeWitt whose past bottle and can-collection efforts have benefited the Baldwin organization, according to Upstate Medical University.

How it works

This summer, fairgoers and concertgoers at the St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater at Lakeview will be able to drop returnable cans into large containers.

The contained are colored bright pink, the color that symbolizes breast-cancer awareness.

The effort is in effect for all of the summer concerts at the venue, Onondaga County said in an email response to a BJNN inquiry.

During the State Fair, Segal will organize about 300 volunteers from the Fund to scour other waste cans for returnables thrown into the garbage “in error.”

Fairgoers are also asked to bring one can per person to deposit in a bright pink recycling container outside the Science and Industry Building, a container that Syracuse Haulers is donating, according to the release.

Tomra Recycling Network of DeWitt will give the Fund six cents for each returnable. The Fund will then provide grants to Upstate for research into the prevention and cure of breast cancer.

The goal is to collect 1 million cans, which would yield $60,000 for research, the state said.

“Upstate Medical University, specifically the Upstate Cancer Center’s great partnership with the Baldwin Fund continues now with the new Cans for Cancer initiative. The Baldwins have been such generous supporters of Upstate by funding more than 60 grants to our breast cancer researchers over the years, totaling more than $3 million. The Cans for Cancer initiative is another creative way to fundraise for Upstate and to someday have a world without breast cancer,” Linda Veit, assistant VP for community relations at Upstate Medical University, said.

The “Cans for Cancer” fundraiser at the New York State Fair “builds on the state’s efforts” to increase early detection of breast cancer through improved access to screenings, the state Agriculture and Markets Department said. State lawmakers this year have approved legislation that “expands screening hours at hospitals and clinics, removes insurance barriers, and offers paid leave for screenings to all public employees,” the department added.

The New York State Fair, operated by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, is scheduled from Aug. 22 to Sept. 3.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com