Seacoast Bank has surpassed a major milestone in the fight against breast cancer, raising more than $1 million for the American Cancer Society through its annual Waves initiative, a fundraising campaign supporting research, advocacy and patient services for people affected by the disease.<\/p>\n
The achievement comes as Breast Cancer Awareness Month shines a spotlight on early detection and support services. Bank leaders, employees, customers and community partners across Florida have helped fuel the effort through donations, volunteer work and participation in American Cancer Society events.<\/p>\n
For many involved, the mission is personal.<\/p>\n
A grandmother’s battle inspires one employee<\/p>\n
Jennifer Cornwell, Seacoast Bank’s director of human resources, said her family’s experience with breast cancer continues to motivate her participation in the campaign.<\/p>\n
Cornwell said her grandmother, whom she affectionately called “Nana,” battled and survived breast cancer twice.<\/p>\n
“It’s very personal for me,” Cornwell told WPTV. “I was very close to my maternal grandmother.”<\/p>\n
Although her grandmother later died from causes unrelated to breast cancer, Cornwell said her resilience continues to inspire her involvement in the annual fundraising effort.<\/p>\n
“Every year since 2017, I’ve been doing this for her,” she said.<\/p>\n
Funding research, services and advocacy<\/p>\n
According to Seacoast Bank, the Waves initiative supports the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer campaign, a nationwide movement that funds cancer research, patient support programs and advocacy efforts.<\/p>\n
Bank officials said employees across the company’s footprint participate through fundraising events, charitable donations and community walks.<\/p>\n
“It’s a really big deal and it needs a lot of money and a lot of resources to find success,” Seacoast Bank Chairman and CEO Chuck Shaffer said. “We’re hoping to find a cure and happy to support that.”<\/p>\n
Shaffer said the initiative reflects one of the company’s core values of giving back to the communities it serves.<\/p>\n
“It happens all the way across the footprint,” Shaffer said. “It’s not just here in Stuart. It’s throughout almost all of Florida, and even up into Georgia now.”<\/p>\n
Supporting coworkers facing cancer today<\/p>\n
The cause has become even more meaningful for some employees currently supporting friends and coworkers battling cancer.<\/p>\n
Jody Bellio said one of her longtime team members is currently undergoing treatment.<\/p>\n
“One of my beloved team members, she’s been in the bank for over 20 years,” Bellio said. “She’s actually fighting the good fight now.”<\/p>\n
Bellio said the diagnosis affected many employees but described her coworker as strong and determined.<\/p>\n
A reminder to take action<\/p>\n
For Cornwell, awareness campaigns are most successful when they encourage people to prioritize their health.<\/p>\n
She hopes increased visibility around breast cancer awareness encourages women to schedule potentially life-saving screenings.<\/p>\n
“For me personally, if one woman drives by and it reminds her to schedule her mammogram this year, we have done our job here,” Cornwell said.<\/p>\n
Several Seacoast Bank employees plan to participate in the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk Saturday at Memorial Park in Stuart. The event is scheduled to begin at 7:30 a.m.<\/p>\n
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seacoast Bank has surpassed a major milestone in the fight against breast cancer, raising more than $1 million…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434423,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-434422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}