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People are what make the Sharon L. Bassett Foundation unique. Our extraordinary volunteers transform the giving experience into a highly personal, deeply uplifting event for the families we help. Our gifts offer hope and the "hand to hold onto" that was so much a part of Sharon's vision.
Here are just a few of our memorable stories. |
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 Will and Ellen Bennett, ages 8 and 6, have a smile that lights up a room, just like their mom Linda Bennett. They lost Linda last July, at age 38, after a four-year battle with breast cancer.
Thanks to funding from the Sharon L. Bassett Foundation, these children and their father, Patrick, can always see Linda's smile and hear her voice on a professional videotape that she recorded on a very good day just before she died.
"Linda left important messages for all of us on this ta..Read more... |
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 Pay It Forward volunteer Suzanne Pfenninger has a compelling story about a young woman who died of breast cancer-and about making her last wish come true.
The woman that Suzanne helped several years ago was a remarkable woman who had a hard life even before she was diagnosed with breast cancer. The woman's husband had shot her, and then shot himself, and she lost a lung in the process. She went on to raise her daughter.
When Suzanne called to find out how she could help, this brave survi..Read more... |
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 Lisa Hayes, a 51-year-old cancer survivor from Indianapolis, considers her Pay It Forward volunteer to be a friend for life.
Brenda Weston lives in Rossville, Illinois but traveled to Indiana to meet with Lisa and take her the $500 gift card-money which helped to get her phone turned back on and pay off her utility bill. Brenda also collected money from the teachers at Maple School in Hoopeston, Illinois to help buy some special gift cards for Lisa's daughter who had just turned 16...Read more... |
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 PIF volunteer Cathy Richardson said, "I just ask the woman 'What's keeping you up at night?' and then I know immediately how I can help her." That's how this volunteer, who is a realtor by profession, has directly helped several women with breast cancer.
"One of my ladies, Deborah Fields, wanted more than anything to move out of her old apartment into a nice senior residence," Cathy said. "So I used my connections as a realtor to help her fill out the papers..Read more... |
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Jeanne Brown, is Sharon Bassett's sister in-law. She and her husband Jason have become more active in the Sharon L. Bassett Foundation every year.
"We've all been scrambling since Sharon's death to keep up with the good work that she started while she was alive ," Jeanne said. "Sharon never let cancer get her down," she added. "She just blossomed when she got sick. I truly believe that helping other women who had breast cancer was Sharon's calling in life."
.. Read more... |
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 Bettye Hoskins was a long-time friend and chemo buddy to Sharon Bassett. "I'll never forget Sharon's first chemo treatment," Bettye said. "She turned to me and said, 'I got this cancer for a reason, and it's up to me to find out what that reason is.'"
Bettye feels, that clearly, the Sharon L. Bassett Foundation and all the good it has done for women was Sharon's purpose in life. "Sharon would have been thrilled with how this program has grown," Bettye said. "I..Read more... |
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Amy Hayes - a young, single mother- is a breast cancer survivor who continues to Pay IT Forward to other women with the disease.
Her children are Sophia,6, and Ayrton, 5.
In 2007, Amy was diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time. "I told the volunteer from the Sharon L. Bassett Foundation that I wanted something that would include my parents and my kids," Amy said.
The Foundation, with an amazing gift of a donated week's stay from Tommy and Cathy Richardson.. Read more... |
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 Candee Bruns, a volunteer with Pay It Forward, feels a special connection to the Carpenter family. She continues to help them through the grieving process of their wife and mother's death.
Evelyn Carpenter died last December, leaving a husband, two grown daughters and five grandchildren.
"It was a golden opportunity for me to fully understand and witness Sharon Bassett's dream at work through my relationship with the Carpenter family," Candee said. "I feel that..Read more... |
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 Donna Chandler of Indianapolis is a volunteer who makes things happen. She called Bill Estes of Estes Chevrolet every hour on the hour until he agreed to help with the cost of a demo vehicle for a woman who had been fighting breast cancer for 25 years.
Martha Rae Cullison drove that car back and forth from south of Terre Haute to Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis three times a week for two years before she gave up her fight with cancer about six months ago, at age 62.
&qu..Read more... |
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 Even though her breast cancer came back after having a bilateral mastectomy, radiation and chemotherapy treatments, 41-year-old Melissa Jensen put her 11-year-old daughter, Madeline, first.
"I started another round of chemotherapy on Dec. 23," Melissa said, "so it was quite a different Christmas for my daughter and me."
Melissa is a single mother, and felt that her cancer had caused Madeline to miss out on a nice Christmas. So she asked that the Pay ..Read more... |
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Latest News |
Parrot Party 2010!
Make sure you save the date! On June 25th the eighth annual Parrot Party presented by Chase will be held at the Robert Irsay Pavilion at 6:30 p...Learn more... |
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SLBF Holiday Season & A Few Friends Give to Families
We celebrated one of Sharon's favorite holidays with a bang this year. Local families living with breast cancer had some great elves..Learn more... |
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