A lot has changed since 2004, when the Boca Raton Regional Hospital Foundation hosted the inaugural Go Pink Luncheon—from our cellphones and technology to pop culture and the rise of social media. What hasn’t changed, though, is the urgency to take on breast cancer.
During the annual luncheon benefiting Boca Raton Regional Hospital, survivors and family members of survivors are asked to stand, and about 95% of the crowd rises to its feet, showcasing breast cancer’s reach.
“Almost everybody knows someone that’s been affected by breast cancer. Whether it’s a family member, a friend, you just know people,” says Carrie Rubin, the chairwoman for this year’s 20th anniversary luncheon. “The more I do this lunch, the more people I find out that are survivors, and it just affects every age group.”
A member of the Go Pink Luncheon’s planning committee for a decade, Rubin was named chairwoman in 2023, following in the footsteps of the late Patti Carpenter, who was chairwoman for 18 years. Rubin couldn’t let the 20th anniversary luncheon go by without doing it big—no small feat, as last year’s fundraiser drew 1,300 attendees to raise $2.3 million for the hospital’s Christine E. Lynn Women’s Health & Wellness Institute and Eugene M. & Christine E. Lynn Cancer Institute.
This year, the committee secured as its guest speaker “Good Morning America” host Robin Roberts, who went public with her breast cancer diagnosis in 2007. Roberts was on the committee’s wish list as a speaker for years, so it was serendipity that her schedule finally aligned to participate for the anniversary.
For the last year, Rubin has been working on the Couture for a Cure, Bras for a Cause project; 17 fashion and jewelry designers have been tasked with revamping a bra or bustier to their style, which will be auctioned off at the Go Pink Luncheon. Participants include Chiara Boni, Wes Gordon of Carolina Herrera, Amanda Perna, Lela Rose, jewelry designers Loree Rodkin and Siena Lasker, Cinq a Sept, L’Agence and more. “Last year was a celebration of resiliency, and this year is a celebration of survivorship, because we are celebrating 20 years of our wonderful community and the survivors,” Rubin explains.
She shared that the committee’s age range is cast over seven decades. The diversity in age brings in new ideas about social media and digital outreach to complement the sage advice from those with decades of service experience. “It’s good synergy,” she says. “You have the old guard, and then you have this young group of talent that really loves the hospital and loves our mission of helping.”
Not only that, but breast cancer has been impacting younger women. According to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the largest increase of early onset breast cancer incidences has been found in those ages 30 to 39. [Mammograms are not recommended until the age of 40; breast exams are done instead.—Ed.]
Before focusing entirely on philanthropy, Rubin worked in meeting planning and was the vice president of client service and retention for the Florida Panthers. She was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, where her grandmother volunteered at a local charity and her mother was heavily involved in Hadassah, the Jewish women’s volunteer organization. Eventually, the family created a foundation to benefit the arts, children’s causes and health care.
Rubin moved to Boca more than 30 years ago, a place she describes as a “vibrant, giving community.” She currently sits on the hospital’s foundation board and board of trustees, the Boca Raton Police Foundation board, and is a member of Impact 100 Palm Beach County, which nominated her for this year’s Junior League of Boca Raton Woman Volunteer of the Year Awards.
“I surround myself with friends that have the same unwavering commitment as I do to philanthropy,” Rubin says. “My family’s legacy of service and philanthropy has guided me [from] a young age to do what I do today for my community, and I just love it.”
The Go Pink Luncheon is Oct. 18 at The Boca Raton. To learn more, click here.
This article is from the September/October 2024 issue of Boca magazine. For more like this, click here to subscribe to the magazine.
