The History of North of Boston Cancer Resource

Compiled by Dina Crawford, former Steering Committee member and Board President

North of Boston Cancer Resource (NBCR) began with an idea, a small group of people who believed in it, and a shared desire to make the cancer journey a little less difficult for people in our community.

The Beginning

In August 2016, a group of gifted healers, healthcare professionals, and cancer community leaders gathered at Roots to Wings in Newbury. The group was convened by Carol Gamble and Arleen Damon, who had identified a need through their work as yoga teachers and their involvement with people affected by cancer: there was no easy way for people with cancer, their families, or their healthcare providers to find the many supportive services, programs, and practitioners of healing therapies available in the local community.

The group came together with a common purpose—to explore how people with cancer could be connected with healing therapies, services, and resources that would help them navigate the distress of a cancer diagnosis, promote healing, and enrich their well-being through cancer and beyond.

The original vision was to create a directory of local resources but, before long, the idea was about more than creating a list. The founders started to envision a network that would help people with cancer access physical, emotional, and spiritual support throughout treatment and survivorship.

The people who participated in those early conversations brought a breadth of experience in cancer care, healthcare, wellness, healing, and community support. Among those who attended the early meetings were,

Arleen Damon — Yoga teacher Roots to Wings, Cancer Support Group

Carol Gamble — Yoga teacher, Graceful Path Yoga, Roots to Wings

Dina Crawford — Reiki Practitioner, Patrick Dempsey Center Voluntee

Rose Russo — Pathways Graphic Design, Yoga teacher at Yoga Center

Ilene Harnch-Grady — Health & Wellness Director, YWCA, Encore

Laura Rossi, RN ---Director of the Anna Jaques Hospital Cancer Center

Joanne Rowley, RN — Yoga Teacher, Clinical Nurse Specialist

Rae Kukene — Riversong Plastic Surgery, Amesbury Holiday Program

Linda Kuhne — Director of Rehabilitation/Pain Management, Anna Jaques Hospital

Denise DeSimone — Author, Motivational Speaker, Wellness Coach

Susan Smith — LISW, Anna Jaques Hospital Cancer Support Group

Patty Melon, Sherri Ziomek, and Dana Fagerquist from the Tough Warrior Princesses

Five members of the original group—Carol Gamble, Arleen Damon, Rose Russo, Ilene Harnch-Grady, and Dina Crawford—formed the first Steering Committee and began the work of turning the idea into an organization.

 Greater Newburyport Cancer Resource

Initially, the organization was called Greater Newburyport Cancer Resource (GNCR).

By January 2017, the Steering Committee had met eight times and had already taken several important steps.

The early mission of GNCR was:

To provide a resource directory of healing therapies and programs available in the greater Newburyport community in support of cancer patients, their families and their providers.

Its vision was:

Enhanced well-being and survivorship for people with cancer in our community through access to a network of providers and programs that offer physical, emotional and spiritual healing and support throughout the course of their treatment and beyond.

The geographic scope of the proposed directory was to include 19 towns in northeastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire, approximately reflecting the service area of Anna Jaques Hospital.

The committee began identifying the types of therapies and programs that could be included in the directory, with an emphasis on approaches that were evidence-based and recognized by national medical and cancer organizations as having value as an adjunct to conventional cancer treatment.

The group also began laying the practical foundation for what would become eventually become NBCR. Plans were developed for a printed brochure and website, fundraising, outreach to the medical community, and communication with practitioners who might be included in the directory. An application for practitioners to request inclusion was created, along with a script for speaking with providers. Rose Russo designed the organization's first logo.

The Steering Committee also began building relationships that would prove important to the organization's future. As a former Lab Director at Anna Jaques Hospital, Carol Gamble had strong connections there.  Meetings with Laura Rossi, Director of the Anna Jaques Hospital Cancer Center, Kelley Sullivan, Community Benefits, and Sarah Gnerre, Vice President of Development, established an important connection between the emerging community resource and the local medical community.

Members of the committee also attended the “Celebrating Survival” luncheon sponsored by Anna Jaques Hospital, The Greater Newburyport Chamber of Commerce and the Institution for savings, introducing GNCR to a broader audience.

The organization was building momentum, but it needed funding to move from an idea to a functioning community resource. The committee set an initial fundraising goal of $10,000 to create and promote the brochure and website.

The urgency was captured in a January 2017 letter to friends and supporters:

“Time is of the essence. As we know, people need help now.”

Testing the Vision

By the middle of 2017, the five members of the Steering Committee had invested months of time in developing the idea. But they had an important question to answer:

Was there really a need for this kind of resource, would the broader community support it and would practitioners in the community participate?

Rather than assuming the answer, the Steering Committee decided to find out.

They invited people from the surrounding communities to a meeting at Roots to Wings Yoga Center to introduce the developing project and explore interest in creating a resource that would connect people affected by cancer with complementary therapies, supportive programs, and other resources.

More than 40 people attended.

Among them were practitioners of complementary therapies, leaders of cancer support nonprofits, and physicians. The size and diversity of the gathering gave the Steering Committee an important indication that the idea they had been nurturing was resonating beyond their original circle.

But one response in particular would change the trajectory of the organization.

Dr. Rebecca Yang of Lahey Comprehensive Breast Health Center was at that meeting. She had been invited by her patient, Arleen Damon, one of the Steering Committee members.

After hearing about what the group was trying to create, Dr. Yang told Arleen,

“We need this.”

Dr. Yang didn't stop with words of encouragement. She went on to help make the vision possible.

Through her support, the Comprehensive Breast Health Center at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center contributed $5,000 to the project. Soon after, Anna Jaques Cancer Center, in collaboration with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, contributed another $5,000.

The original $10,000 fundraising goal had been met through the support of two prominent local cancer-care institutions.

For the Steering Committee, this was a pivotal moment.

The need they perceived had been validated and local hospitals were investing in making the resource a reality.

In addition, the support of Dr. Yang, whose practice was outside the greater Newburyport area, necessitated a name change for the organization and an expansion of the service area.  Greater Newburyport Cancer Resource became North of Boston Cancer Resource and the service area was expanded to the communities north of Boston in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Southern Maine.

From Idea to Community Resource

By October 2017, additional community support had brought total contributions to $16,500, including a $5,000 corporate donation from Montbleau & Associates, Inc. and a $1,500 foundation gift from the Swasey Foundation. These early gifts helped fund the development, promotion, updating, and maintenance of the website.

Over the next several months the team worked diligently on creating the directory.

They scoured the internet, talked to people in the community, made phone calls, verified information and organized the services and resources into several categories.

They included support groups, local cancer support organizations and programs, as well as books and the websites of national organizations with cancer support options.

The resource guide was becoming far more than a simple directory. The Steering Committee wanted people to be able to find competent, qualified, and compassionate practitioners who understood the unique needs of people affected by cancer.

The range of modalities being considered was extensive, including acupuncture, aromatherapy, art therapy, exercise, oncology massage, manual lymph drainage, meditation, guided imagery, nutrition, Reiki, relaxation techniques, spiritual support, yoga and yoga therapy, and many others.

Local practitioners known to the group were invited to apply to be included in the directory.  A thorough vetting process was implemented with a review of credentials, experience and references.

The Steering Committee continued working closely with Anna Jaques Cancer Center and the Lahey Comprehensive Breast Care Center to ensure that the resource guide included programs and therapies that were evidence-informed and recognized by national cancer centers as potentially beneficial alongside conventional cancer treatment.

This information was compiled and organized with contact information and links.  In the meantime, Rose Russo was working with Jessamyn Anderson of, what was then, Dingo Creative, to design and build the website.

The Launch

In February 2018, the new North of Boston Cancer Resource website went live. It was an exciting milestone—the idea that had begun with a small group gathered at Roots to Wings was now becoming a real resource that people with cancer and their families could access online.

The website brought together information about cancer support organizations, programs, resources, and practitioners offering complementary and supportive therapies. It represented the first tangible expression of the vision the Steering Committee had been working toward since that first gathering in 2016: making it easier for people with cancer to find resources that could support them physically, emotionally, and spiritually throughout their cancer experience.

At this time, the NBCR Steering Committee took their show on the road.  They prepared a presentation to share with those who had supported their efforts and those who could share the information with others.  The team presented to the Cancer Committees at the Lahey Hospital and Anna Jaques as well as other community organizations such as The Rotary Club and The Exchange Club and the Chamber of Commerce.

To celebrate the launch and publicize it in a bigger way, a special community gathering was held on June 6, 2018. The invitation list reflected the growing network that had formed around the project. Hospital representatives from Anna Jaques, Lahey, Beth Israel, and MGH were invited, along with physicians, nurses, social workers, volunteers, and others involved in cancer care. Local cancer support organizations and community partners were invited as well, including Cancer Strong, Greater Newburyport Ovarian Cancer Awareness, Ironstone Farm, Lucy’s Love Bus, and Tough Warrior Princesses. The celebration also brought together donors and early supporters as well as business and community leaders.

It was more than a website launch. It was a celebration of the community that had helped make the vision possible.

The photographs from that evening capture something that is difficult to convey in a list of accomplishments: the joy, energy, friendship, and sense of possibility that surrounded NBCR in those early days. The people who had imagined the organization, worked to build it, and believed in its potential were together celebrating what they had created.

And the work was just beginning.

From Resource Guide to Organization

The new website was intentionally viewed as a work in progress. As more practitioners, programs, organizations, and resources were identified, the guide would continue to grow. At the same time, it became clear that information alone was not enough. People needed help understanding their options, finding qualified practitioners, accessing services, and overcoming financial barriers that could prevent them from receiving supportive care. 

The Steering Committee began to move toward a vision of something larger than a directory -- a community organization that could not only connect people with resources, but also help make those resources more accessible to people living with cancer.

For this they needed a more formal organizational structure and ways to increase funding so that more people affected by cancer could benefit from the resources being identified. In late 2018, the group began the process of application for 501(c)(3) status. In July of 2019, NBCR received notification of approval.

A Broader Mission

In January 2020, the board of NBCR met for a Strategic Planning meeting at the home of Lucy’s Love Bus in Amesbury.  At this meeting, the group decided to expand its mission focusing more specifically on education, empowerment and access.  They determined the core values of the organization and adopted a new mission and vision.

Core Values: Empowerment - Community - Trust - Collaboration - Hope

Mission: Enrich the well-being of people living with cancer and their loved ones by enhancing access to resources, education and services that empower and support the whole person.

Vision: Enhanced well-being and survivorship for people with cancer in our communities through access to a network of practitioners and programs that offer physical, emotional and spiritual healing and support throughout the course of their treatment and beyond.

That evolution of the organization’s mission was reflected in the goals set for that year:

·       Start a Speaker Series to be offered at local support groups to educate the cancer community about what support services and resources were available to them and how those services might benefit them.

·       Explore and implement a process to fund access to the services of local providers of integrative/complementary therapies.

Living the Expanded Mission: Education and Community

By March of 2020 it became evident that an in-person Speaker Series would not work during a pandemic.  NBCR pivoted and decided to offer the Series via Zoom.  As it turned out, this change became (mostly) permanent as it created the opportunity for more people to attend each event and without requiring the physical effort of leaving home which could be prohibitive for many. With the isolation people with cancer were facing at this time, in addition to their diagnosis, NBCR made a point of focusing on topics of self-care that people could participate in at home.  The first session was offered in April of 2020, a participative presentation on journaling.

During the pandemic, NBCR also partnered with 4 other cancer-focused non-profits.  Joining with My Breast Cancer Support, On Belay, Betty J. Borry Breast Cancer Retreats and Yoga in Action, NBCR participated in a group that called themselves “Through it Together.” The group was created specifically to support those living with cancer during that particularly uncertain and stressful time. The group offered over 15 sessions through mid-2022 when the group disbanded.

However, NBCR continued its Speaker Series. To date NBCR has offered over 50 informational and inspirational Speaker Series Sessions with over 550 attendees on a wide variety of topics. Among the topics presented: meditation, yoga, acupuncture, acupressure, mindfulness, guided imagery, reiki, dealing with fatigue, tapping, and many other practices that can relieve stress and promote healing such as art, being in nature, exercise, and nutrition. Several inspirational sessions were presented by cancer survivors sharing their experiences and perspectives.  Through the Speaker Series NBCR was able to foster a caring, sharing, supportive community.

Living the Expanded Mission: Access to Healing and Supportive Services

Through early and mid-2020 NBCR explored the options for helping people affected by cancer to overcome financial barriers to accessing healing therapies. They contacted other non-profits with similar missions and spoke with the practitioners of complementary therapies that were listed on the website to understand what model might work for them.

By October 2020, the new process was implemented.  NBCR initiated agreements with many of the practitioners listed on the website.  They would accept and NBCR “Gift Certificate” as payment at the time of service.  They would offer the session at no cost to the bearer of the Gift Certificate and subsequently submit an invoice to NBCR for the cost of the service. NBCR would then reimburse the practitioner.  Within NBCR and among the practitioners this became known as the voucher program. 

It was very important to the board of NBCR that people with cancer be supported from diagnosis, through treatment and beyond.  It had become very clear that the time after completion of treatment was a critical and vulnerable phase. They lose the medical community of doctors and nurses that have been supporting them on a regular basis throughout treatment. They are facing the after-effects of the disease, surgery and chemotherapy or radiation treatments. They often suffer fatigue, loss of function and ongoing pain. They are adjusting to a new way of being and dealing with the trauma of what they have experienced. They live with anxiety and the fear that cancer will recur. They need to regain strength and vitality and they may not know how to do so on their own. Returning to work, relationships, family responsibilities, and everyday life can be a challenge. They need support during the post-treatment phase as much as ever. For this reason, any person who had received a cancer diagnosis was eligible to receive gift certificates regardless of whether they were in or had completed treatment.

In the first year, gift certificates were given out to attendees of the Speaker Series events who had been affected by cancer and lived in the North of Boston Area. In 2020, NBCR gave out 20 Gift Certificates.

Since then the program has grown both on the practitioner side and on the client side.

NBCR started with 4 options for redemption of gift certificates in October 2020.  By December there were 7.  As of August 2026 there were over 20 practitioners participating in the program and the number is growing.

The method of referral to the gift certificate program has also evolved.  In mid-2021 NBCR partnered with Anna Jaques Cancer Center.  Doctors, nurses and the social worker at the center can offer gift certificates directly to their patients.

As time went on, practitioners who started working with a client with a cancer diagnosis that had a financial barrier to continuing treatment would refer the client to NBCR for gift certificates.  

Currently, anyone with a cancer diagnosis who lives in the North of Boston Area can request gift certificates and can continue to receive gift certificates as long as the services are of benefit and financial barriers exist. In 2025 NBCR funded over 220 sessions of healing treatments.

Through August 2026, NBCR has provided over 900 healing sessions and funded over $100,000 worth of services and gifts. (Since 2022 they have been providing grocery gift cards to cancer patients an Anna Jaques Cancer Center each holiday season.)

Fundraising

Until 2025, the majority of funding for the activities of NBCR came through grants and individual donors.  Among the organizations that supported NBCR over the years were the Institution for Savings, the Mary Alice Arakelian Foundation, Anna Jaques Hospital, Lahey Comprehensive Breast Center, Montbleau & Associates, the Swasey Foundation, and Boston North Cancer Association.

In 2025 Sara Lahaie, a social worker at Anna Jaques Cancer Center at the time, approached Dr. Yavarow about starting a 5K fundraiser.  The “Cancer Doesn’t Care But WE Do” 5K was a great success and has become NBCR’s Signature Event.  In addition to raising substantial funds it is an opportunity for the community of support for our friends and neighbors with cancer to gather and have some fun! 

The second annual event took place on May 2, 2026 and the 3rd annual is scheduled for May 1, 2027.

Growth

For the first 7+ years, NBCR (formerly GNCR) was an entirely volunteer-driven organization. The growth had been substantial and the workload became overwhelming for an all-volunteer group. In Feburary 2024 Linda Febles joined NBCR as administrative staff.  Linda proved herself to be committed to the mission, skilled in all the right areas and effictively indispensable. In September 2026, when NBCR experienced a transition in leadership as the last member of the original Steering Committee, Dina Crawford, left the board, Linda was promoted to Executive Director.

A Mission Being Fulfilled and a Vision Being Realized

Although NBCR has evolved considerably from the organization envisioned at that first meeting at Roots to Wings, its fundamental purpose has remained remarkably consistent.

The founders believed that cancer care should extend beyond treating the disease to caring for the whole person—body, mind, and spirit.

They recognized that people with cancer often need support with the physical and emotional effects of treatment, but also with the uncertainty, fear, disruption, and changes in identity that accompany a cancer diagnosis.

NBCR grew out of the belief that many of the resources people need already exist within their communities. The challenge is helping people find them, determine which are appropriate and trustworthy, and access them when they need them.

In that sense, NBCR has always been a connector—linking people with cancer to practitioners, healthcare professionals, information, financial assistance, community resources, and one another.

The organization has changed, grown, and expanded in ways that the original group could not have known to imagine in August 2016. But the heart of the idea remains the same.

What began with a gathering of people asking how they could help has become a lasting community resource—one grounded in the belief that people facing cancer deserve not only excellent medical care, but also compassion, connection, healing, and support throughout cancer and beyond.