On October 16th, 750 people, largely from Chicago’s esteemed commercial real estate industry, gathered at the the Hilton Chicago for the Harold E. Eisenberg Foundation’s 20th Annual Dinner. The event raised a record-breaking $560,000 to benefit the foundation’s two-pronged mission of funding gastrointestinal (GI) cancer research and advancing real estate education.
The foundation celebrated 20 years of accomplishments, including the largest single gift in their history, a $1.5 million commitment to fund the Harold E. Eisenberg Foundation GI Cancer OncoSET program at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern University. The OncoSET program is an unprecedented initiative to deliver personalized cancer treatments to patients with very limited options.
Regena Florisi shared her personal journey with GI cancer. Two years ago, Florisi was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer that spread to her liver, lungs and lymph nodes. Six months ago Florisi came to Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern after having not responded to traditional treatments. The OncoSET Program funded by the foundation has provided options for Florisi that were never before possible.
On the real estate education side, the foundation announced the Sheila Eisenberg Scholarship in partnership with Embarc. In addition to the $50,000 awarded in annual scholarships, and the several hands-on real estate mentorship opportunities, two $5,000 scholarships will be awarded annually to under-resourced high school students that are interested in pursuing their college studies in the field of real estate.
“The support of our board members, sponsors and the powerful commercial real estate industry continue to push us forward in our work to fight GI cancer through cutting-edge personalized medicine,” said executive director, Katie Wales. “Over the past 20 years, we’ve seen immense growth, thanks to those who support our mission. And for that, we are incredibly grateful.”
The Harold E. Eisenberg Foundation, along with event chair, Kevin Wolfberg and vice-chair, Elizabeth O-Brien, would like to thank the evening’s presenting sponsor, Wintrust, as well as premier sponsors, Clark Street Real Estate, NARE and Old Second Bank.
