Episode 7: Partners in the Community - Gilda's Club

In this episode, Roger speaks with special guests Wendy Wigger and Shawn Campbell of Gilda's Club Grand Rapids, about this special organization and opportunities to learn more about all of their free programming!

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In this episode of the Life and Finances Together podcast our senior financial professional, Roger David, talks with special guests Wendy Wigger and Shawn Campbell from our charitable partner in the community, Gilda's Club Grand Rapids. They share a bit about the history of the chapter and an upcoming event you won't want to miss. 

Wendy Wigger is the President of Gilda's Club Grand Rapids and Shawn Campbell is Vice President of Development and Engagement. And we’re really thrilled to have them in our little studio especially after the events and the things that Rinvelt & David has done in partnership with Gilda’s. 

Roger provides a little bit of his history with the organization. He was really at the ground level when Deb Bailey came to him asking for checks and asking who wants to be part of this new program. It really struck him because Roger’s father passed away from cancer, from pancreatic cancer, and his mom had breast cancer and was almost a 20-year survivor. And the technology and everything has gotten so much better now, but that was pretty rare for her with what she had, to survive that. And one of the things that so impressed Roger about Gilda's Club, is they were told when he and Rob would do different workshops and things for people at Gilda's Club, to remember that they were living with cancer. 

And that means so many different things. There are just so many things you can say about that simple phrase. But that in and of itself was just a statement of hope when you really think about it. Because nobody wants to hear that word. And what Gilda’s Club does in the community for those that are affected by cancer, individually and even their families and their friends, their children, is just so amazing. 

Roger asks our guests to tell us a little bit about Gilda's Club and to help us understand what they do for the community and for these individuals and their families that are affected by this dreaded disease. 

Wendy begins by talking about the origins of the organization. 

“I think our namesake Gilda Radner, who died very young and with her own cancer diagnosis. And for those that may not be familiar with Gilda Radner the Saturday Night Live comedian which you only saw on Saturday. Because we didn't have DVR, VCR, Netflix. You couldn't record it. You had to stay up late and if you missed, it you missed it. She really taught us about living with cancer regardless of what the outcome might be. 

And so with Gilda's Club we really focus on that living with cancer. The minute you're diagnosed you are a survivor. And what we provide is that emotional health support for anybody on a cancer journey or connected to anybody on a cancer journey. 

Whether that's the children or the friends or the family members. We really started with that whole mission of cancer. 

And you mentioned Deb Bailey, who was one that approached you early on. Deb Bailey, Susan Smith, Twink Frey. Our three major founders. But it really took a… they'll talk about a community of support that it took to actually start what is the, I think we have 11th or the 12th club in the nation.” 

Roger confirms that ours was the 11th or 12th at the time of the founding. 

Wendy continues, “Yep. Back in 1998 when they first hired on their first president and CEO and then they started the initiative. It was Twink who saw this on NBC as I understand it. 

She saw Gene Wilder who was Gilda Radner's husband at the time and her cancer therapist Joanna Bull. The two of them were doing an interview talking about the club that had opened up, the first one up in New York. And Deb Bailey, cancer survivor. Susan Smith, cancer survivor. Twink Frey, cancer survivor. They were like, we need that here. And they really started that whole community of support. 

Deb Bailey left us in 2020 from about her seventh cancer diagnosis. She always described the three of them as: Twink had the connections and the ability to be able to create a network. Susan had the organization, and Deb was the mouth that just could ask anybody, like Roger, to sign up and make sure you support a great organization and a nonprofit. 

Roger asks what are the programs and ways that you support people in the community, those that are affected with cancer and their families? 

Wendy explains that they have over 200 different activities and events happening on a monthly basis. That includes support groups, as well as what they call "Learn, Share, Laugh," where they provide free meals to take another barrier out of the way for people that are coming to the organization. 

“We have Pilates classes, we have Sit and Be Fit, we have art classes, art therapy, we have ukuleles on Monday, the KnitWits, which are knitting prayer shawls and caps and such. So, you know, we recognize that support comes in very, a variety of different packages and not everybody is interested in getting support in the same way. And for those that come to Gilda's Club, whether it's physically or virtually, because we do offer virtual programs as well, it's really wanting to help individuals navigate their cancer journey in a way that makes sense for them. So it may be unique to each individual. 

Some people will never come to a support group, and some will only come to a support group, but it's really, whatever it is, we look at the individual as being the expert on their own journey.” 

Wendy goes on to share something that’s really unique about Gilda's Club Grand Rapids. “Not only do we have that cancer focus right from the get-go, when we started and opened our doors for the first time in 2001, we then, about 2003, started to offer grief support. 

So emotional health support to anybody that is on a grief journey of any kind, not just a cancer related death, but it could be a death due to an accident, due to suicide or whatever the case might be, but it's providing that emotional health support for people that are navigating grief as well. So that is a unique element to our programming in terms of what other Gilda's Clubs, we're all independently owned and operated 501c3s, but we are very unique in all of the nation because we're the only Gilda's Club that provides non-cancer related grief.” 

Roger learned something new and expresses what a great thing it is to provide this additional level of support. 

Wendy goes on to say, “I think that's really what we create as a community of support. So, when you start to create a community where other people can understand and recognize what it's like, that you don't have to be on this cancer or grief journey alone, which is what Gilda Radner, in her journey, when she said that she found, at that time it was called The Wellness Community on the west coast. 

When she found the Wellness Community through her cancer therapist, Joanna Bull, that's when she said she started to find her laughter back, her smile back, that she could connect with other people that understood what it was like to be on such a journey. Even your closest friend and spouse or support person doesn't really know exactly what that feels like when it's you that's been diagnosed, but they're impacted too because there's this emotional wake that just infiltrates anybody that's connected.” 

One of the things that Roger also has been impacted by is the support Gilda’s Club provides for children. Children that are affected by cancer, but also the kids of parents or grandparents. In the clubhouse there is a special place called Noogieland for the kids, which Roger remembers from visits going back to the beginning of the organization. So he asks for more information about the programs offered for the children. 

Shawn shares a special story about a personal experience she had with Noogieland. 

“As Wendy mentioned, we really do take care of that whole network of people who are supporting folks. So regardless of who's affected by the diagnosis to the kids and everybody that's in the house. But one thing that makes Gilda's unique is our onboarding process. 

When we bring new employees on, we really want folks to immerse themselves in what that journey looks like for each individual person. And part of that, we attend our support groups as visitors and just are able to see our social work team. All of those support groups are led by licensed social workers who are really skilled at being able to navigate that life's tough stuff. 

But something that struck me during my onboarding eight years ago was with the kids, is you're saying like, how do you manage that with children? And our Noogieland coordinator was doing an art activity with the kids and asking them, prompting them to draw something that's meaningful to them. And there was a young girl who drew the clubhouse. You know, we are on six acres over on Bridge Street, right down from the medical mile. 

And when asked why she decided to draw the clubhouse, some kids had rainbows, some had, you know, unicorns and all the other fun kids stuff. She said that Gilda's Club was the only place where people asked how she was doing. 

She had a sibling that had cancer. And when everybody was visiting the family or coming to the home, all the questions were about how her sibling was doing. Rightfully so. There's no playbook around how to deal with cancer and life's tough stuff. 

But it was just really telling in that moment that we're there to support everyone, including other children that are in the home, whether it's mom or dad who has diagnosis or sibling. And it just was really striking and so grateful for the work that they're doing all the time with those kids. So there's a lot of different ways for kids to plug in, both in Noogieland and our teen and tweens groups, but also we have some grant money that helps us fund in-school programming where we have a curriculum that we take to GRPS and we're out in Lowell too through our Pink Arrow collaboration. 

But we try to give young elementary kids some tools in their toolbox to be able to deal with life's tough stuff and have that emotional wellness, whether that's related to cancer, grief, or maybe it's divorce or other things that are going on in their schooling, that we have a group of our social workers who are out helping them in the schools too with our in-school program.” 

Roger brings up the upcoming event at Gilda’s Club, the West Side Walk and asks how we can get involved. 

Shawn is excited to share more about this special event. 

“It's going to be our 10th annual walk on September 28th at our clubhouse. It is a peer-to-peer fundraising activity where we're asking people who have connected with Gilda's and have a relationship with us to ask others to come along and help support us.” 

Gilda’s Club Grand Rapids has upwards of a $1.7 million operating budget that they need to raise annually. And as our friend Deb Bailey would say, because Gilda’s provides free support, “free is pretty expensive.” 

Shawn continues, “the walk provides just such a wonderful opportunity for people to connect with the clubhouse. We have wonderful corporate partners like yourself who are doing teams and raising money for our free programs. 

We also have some of our support groups who have rallied together and it's been really fun to watch. Our multiple myeloma group has a team name called "Bad to the Bone." A little irony there. They're off and fundraising. We have a group from one of our grief support groups called the Land Sharks, which is a nod to Gilda Radner and the Land Sharks. 

Being our 10th anniversary, one group that has been with us all 10 years has been our Breast Buddies and our breast cancer group. They have raised just, I think over $30,000 in the 10 years to support the services that they're attending and going to. 

The other thing that's really cool about it is it starts and ends at the clubhouse. So it's a really accessible way for people. Rather, if they're receiving our services and they want to bring other people, like you've heard that I'm going to Gilda's Club, come check it out. See why this place is important to me. It's a really accessible way for them to come, but it's also a great way for people to get a taste of Gilda's if they're kind of trying to dip their toe into it. We know that one of the hardest things to do is to walk through that red door for the very first time.” 

Shawn expresses that Gilda’s Club doesn’t want to be underutilized here in the community. They don’t want to be a “best kept secret.” They know there's probably more cancer and grief out there than what they can support, but any way they can bring people to the clubhouse and introduce them to the programs is a success. 

Roger goes on to share that his wife is also a cancer survivor. When his twin daughters were very young, she was diagnosed with uterine cancer, and at the time he thought he’d be joining the many who have taken advantage of Gilda’s support services, if anything happened to her. Knowing Gilda’s Club was there…was available to him and his young family was such a reassurance. 

He then talks more about last year’s West Side Walk. 

“One of the things that struck me about the walk last year when we did it was you chalked the walk. So when we were coming up to walk and participate, you have to walk up the drive to get to where everything's at.” 

“That's the hardest part of it,” Shawn says, smiling. 

“That's a little steep climb, right?” Roger continues. “One of the things, and I'm a very emotional guy, so when you read these little drawings and the messages and everything, gosh, it just hits you. And we're going to be involved in chalking the walk this year, Rinvelt and David. We want to get as many people out there to share their messages, right on the walk, just with some chalk.” 

Wendy replies, “I want to thank you for what you all are doing, because one thing that we recognize is that the way people most likely find out about Gilda's Club is through friends and families and people like Rinvelt and David that are letting people know about the services, because we are the mission that people don't want to think about. Who wants to think about cancer? Who wants to think about grief? And so when you see those messages of love, of empowerment, of memory, of hope, whatever the case may be, wherever that person may be in their journey of cancer and grief, it is moving. And I'm so glad that you are emotional because Shawn and I get it. We both have that extra E in our DNA of emotion. And, you know, and that's one of the things about Gilda's Club is that we want to let people embrace the real of whatever they're feeling. It could be happiness for that day because of a test result. It could be sadness because of a prognosis, whatever it might be. It's living with that, fill in the blank, whatever it might be.” 

Wendy goes on to provide a special bit of information. 

“So if you come, which we hope you do on our walk day. We hope that you'll tour the clubhouse because before the drywall was put up in the clubhouse, the community was invited to write messages and names. And that is what is on the studs behind the drywall. 

Now, I'll get emotional here because I think it really just speaks to the sacredness and the beauty of the space that we hold for people that are going through some of life's toughest stuff. And that is behind the walls at Gilda's Club and what you're adding to the grounds and to the messages. It's just something that is to be celebrated in so many ways and to be cherished.” 

Roger describes the clubhouse saying, “it's such a warm place to walk into, I mean, I love walking in there because usually you’re baking cookies. You're doing something. The couches are also poofy. You just want to sit there and say, I'm going to come over here in the afternoon and take a nap. I mean, it's just so warm and welcoming. It's like you're walking into somebody's home that just says come in here. You know, we're going to comfort you. We're going to hold you. You know, we're going to take care of you, right? It's not a cold, you know, kind of an institutional type of thing. It's a home that you go into, and you feel that presence when you walk in.” 

Wendy explains that the design of the clubhouse is very intentional. They really want it to be home-like. And she goes on to share that “it's not so much what we're doing to you or for you, but with you.” 

It's walking alongside of and walking with people as they're journeying through that tough stuff. Because each person's journey is unique to themselves. 

Roger appreciates that sentiment and talks about having clients that have been affected by cancer and the fact that Rinvelt & David also experiences some of what Gilda’s Club does from the financial aspect of it. 

He recalls the emotion involved and though they might be dealing with the money side of it, they’re also experiencing the emotional side of it along with the client, too. They take care of the person that's being directly affected along with that family. 

So, how can we help? What are the ways that we can support Gilda’s Club to achieve this $1.7 million need that you have every year? Because when you think about it, if Gilda’s Club is not here, then what? What are we going to do? If we don't have $1.7 million, where is that support going to be provided? Where is that hug and that nurturing going to come from? So, what can we do to help and to make sure that this unbelievable community service never goes away? 

Shawn explains that the largest funder of that $1.7 million are individual donors. So, Gilda’s Club really welcomes the opportunity to meet with people and ask for gifts to make that mission happen. And that may come through individual giving, if they've set aside or have a family foundation that's giving. It can come with estate planning gifts. Distributions. And Rinvelt & David can help explain more about charitable giving as well as legacy gifts. 

Also events like West Side Walk are great fundraising events and awareness events. As well as others that Gilda’s Club hosts throughout the year. They have a golf outing each June, a large gala, as well as LaughFest in March, which is a five-day comedy festival. 

Shawn describes LaughFest saying, “we like to have a little serious behind the funny. We know if we can get people to laugh, we can get them to listen and share a little bit more about that awareness in a gloomy time in West Michigan. Come out and see a comedy show and support us.” 

But beyond the events, it's really the culmination of really generous individuals who are helping support. And that means giving $10, $50, $100 gifts. This is an accessible organization for people to be able to give in those increments. 

And there are donors who will match that funding. Right now, for West Side Walk as the team at Gilda’s prepares, The Peter C. and Emajean Cook Foundation are matching new contributions to West Side Walk. So, if somebody has not supported Gil's Club in the past, this is a great way for them to double their donation! 

Donating is easy. You can go online at any time to gildasclubgr.org. You can stop by the clubhouse, or you can contact Rinvelt and David and we’ll be happy to connect you with the team at Gilda’s to show your support. 

Come out for the West Side Walk. It's like a huge block party. You'll have music. You'll have just a variety of fun. 

Roger thanks Wendy and Shawn for being a part of the podcast. And continues saying, “we're so thankful for everything that you do within the community, your roles at Gilda's Club… Thank you for coming in to share a little bit about Gilda's Club and what it means to the community. And we really want to thank you for your passion and what you do that makes Gilda's Club what it is. It comes from the individuals, and we can see it. We can see it in your sincerity. We can see it in your dedication, your passion for what you do. You know, at Rinvelt and David, we're not going to participate in something unless we know that it's sincere. And it's a passionate thing that everybody wants to be a part of. And that comes from the two of you and the entire organization. And we want to thank you.” 

And we want to invite anybody that comes out to the West Side Walk. We have a team at Rinvelt and David! So, all of you out there that know us at Rinvelt and David, come on and join us. 

Thanks so much for reading and for learning more about Gilda's Club Grand Rapids with us today. If you have any questions about our team for the West Side Walk, our financial services, or finances in general, please send us an email, give us a call. And of course, please like and subscribe to our podcast and stay tuned for the next episode.