NORTHAMPTON — Radio personality Monte Belmonte broadcasted for 12 hours in a tuxedo and top hat in the Hotel Northampton ballroom on Wednesday, gathering donations for Cancer Connection.
The 17-year-old local nonprofit provides free support services to cancer patients and their families.
Last year, WRSI morning show host Belmonte helped raise $100,000 for the nonprofit. But after a decade of camping out on the Old Courthouse lawn on cold nights to raise money, Belmonte moved his annual fundraiser indoors.
From the crowd, Marge Ebbeling, who has been volunteering at Cancer Connection for eight years, watched Belmonte work his fundraising magic. “He’s very concerned about people with cancer,” Ebbeling said.
Ebbeling began using the nonprofit’s services after she was diagnosed with cancer. Now, as a survivor and volunteer, she said, “I’m trying to give back what they gave me eight years ago.”
The support at Cancer Connection helped Ebbeling through the healing process. “You’re in with people who have all been through what you’ve been through,” she said.
That is what Cancer Connection is all about, said Kristen Elechko, interim executive director of the nonprofit — providing a sense of support outside of the medical community.
“Cancer is the great equalizer,” Elechko said. “It really touches all of us.”
To assist patients and families through a diagnosis, Cancer Connection offers services such as support groups, acupuncture and reiki, which is a type of therapy centered around energy and restoring balance to the body.
Belmonte’s fundraisers have helped the nonprofit continue to offer these free services to the community.
The camp-in had a great start, according to Belmonte. On Wednesday afternoon, he received an update from the phone bank that the fundraiser was about to hit $5,000.
When he first started doing campout fundraisers, Belmonte explained, $5,000 was the goal. At the camp-in, he was happy to have reached that point so early on in the fundraising process.
Belmonte broadcast from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, and plans to broadcast again from 6 to 10 a.m. on Thursday. Various local musicians and guests entertained the crowd throughout the fundraiser. Belmonte encouraged the public to attend a dance party on Wednesday night.
While the camp-in was significantly different from his previous campouts, Belmonte said, “I wanted it to be different by design.”
“The fact that I get to be in a tuxedo instead of a parka is really exciting for me,” he said with a smile.
Marcia Bergeron said she found Cancer Connection through one of Belmonte’s previous campouts. As of Wednesday afternoon, she was the top individual fundraiser of this year’s camp-in, raising $2,200.
Bergeron was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014. She used the services at Cancer Connection to find some peace of mind. “When you’re going through cancer, your mind is going in 100 different directions,” she said.
At Cancer Connection, Bergeron attended support groups and received reiki and acupuncture therapy.
“I honestly don’t know what I would have done without them (Cancer Connection),” she said. “It made me feel like I wasn’t alone.”
Bergeron has been cancer-free for two years and now volunteers at Cancer Connection’s thrift shop.
Jennifer Fleischer also said that Cancer Connection helped her feel less isolated. Fleischer was diagnosed with cancer within two months of moving from New Jersey to Massachusetts.
After her diagnosis, Fleischer started attending breast cancer awareness support groups and reiki. Going to Cancer Connection helped ease some of her worries, she said.
If Fleischer could give a message to cancer patients in the area, she would tell them that “they don’t have to carry the burden on their own.”
At Cancer Connection, she said, “I was able to live through my diagnosis instead of wallowing in my diagnosis.”
Cancer Connection provides support to many people like Bergeron and Fleischer.
“There isn’t a block in Northampton that we haven’t supported someone who’s living there,” Elechko said. A main goal of the nonprofit is to bring the community together, she explained.
When Nancy Carter-Price’s daughter was diagnosed with cancer, there wasn’t an organization around like Cancer Connection. Now that her daughter is cancer-free, Carter-Price wants to give back.
Carter-Price is the reiki team facilitator and adviser. She has been at Cancer Connection for 15 years. Through reiki, she helps patients and their families to relax, reduce stress and mitigate anxiety.
Cancer Connection offers monthly reiki nights, as well as scheduled one-on-one sessions.
“I wanted to be able to do what I could for families with a diagnosis,” Carter-Price said.
At the camp-in, Carter-Price gave reiki mini-sessions on the porch of the hotel. She has wanted to volunteer her reiki services at Belmonte’s previous campouts, but it wasn’t feasible to do reiki outdoors.
Elechko made note of Hotel Northampton’s generosity for providing a space for the camp-in.
“They (at the hotel) really feel so committed to the community and providing support to those of us who are doing good work in the community,” she said.
During a break, Belmonte, said “It’s really just about bringing awareness to this organization that is unlike any other organization I’ve ever heard of.”