2009 LIFE Event

The LIFE Event (LPGA Pros in the Fight to Eradicate Breast Cancer) mission is to continue to help eradicate breast cancer as a life-threatening disease, while reaching out to a younger generation of women and providing them with information about the importance of early detection and healthy breast care practices.

The LIFE Event will celebrate its tenth anniversary on May 18, 2009 at the historic Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J., home of the Barclays PGA Tour event. The annual fund raising tournament will feature many of the most elite women golfers in the world from the LPGA, including World Golf Hall of Fame members Beth Daniel and Karrie Webb, top ranked players Angela Stanford, Morgan Pressel, Brittany Lincicome, Helen Alfredsson, Christiana Kim and Laura Diaz.

The LIFE Event, still noted as the biggest single-day golf event fundraiser for breast cancer initiatives, has raised more than $5 million for breast cancer research, awareness and prevention programs since its inception in 2000. Beneficiaries include Susan G. Komen for the Cure and The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ).

Key programs funded by LIFEinclude Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s nationwide initiative, Komen On the Go, an interactive tour that travels to community events and universities across the U.S., conveying life-saving information about breast cancer. The LIFE Center at CINJ is dedicated to teaching young women how to maintain breast health and reduce the factors that increase their risk of breast cancer. Researchers and medical professionals at the LIFE Center are dedicated to improving young women's understanding of their risk to develop breast cancer and their knowledge of appropriate prevention and screening strategies.

Also funded by LIFE is CINJ’s BioCONECT program, a post-doctoral LIFE Fellowship that focuses on the implementation of a high school biology curriculum that teaches genetics using breast cancer as its focus. In 2008 the BioCONECT pilot program was launched in 23 New Jersey area schools and is planned for a 2009 launch In New York and South Carolina as the program moves to a national platform.

The tenth anniversary tournament will be followed by a reception, highlighting these innovative programs supported by LIFE and will feature the announcement of the 2009 LIFE heroes, Gabriella Union and Bridget Mooney.

LIFE Event partners include: the Joe Plumeri Family, EmblemHealth, Guy Carpenter, QualCare and Roche. Other notable supporters are: Assured Guaranty, Marsh, Centocor Ortho Biotech, Inc., ACE Group, GUND, Inc. and Lincoln Mercury.

Founded and led by Skinner, the LIFE Event benefits Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the LPGA’s official national charity and largest private backer of breast cancer research and education and the New Brunswick-based Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ), a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center.

Together, Skinner and these beneficiaries, who share the common goal of eliminating breast cancer as a life-threatening disease, created the “Young Women’s Initiative” — a multifaceted approach to educating young women and other audiences about the risks associated with breast cancer and the importance of early detection. Komen and CINJ programs, funded by LIFE, move this initiative forward.