Donations from the Foundation and Arbella Employees Brings Total Lifetime Donations to Over $582,000
Since 2008, the Arbella Insurance Foundation (“Foundation”) and Arbella Insurance Group employees have teamed up to raise funds for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute that will provide cancer screenings and education for those living in areas where medical care is not as readily available. Today, Arbella is proud to announce that Arbella Insurance Group employees have raised more than $22,500 at the annual Pink Day event, hosted every year at Arbella’s headquarters in Quincy, Massachusetts. This year’s funds were matched by the Arbella Insurance Foundation for a total donation of over $45,100.
“Pink Day is a charitable tradition near to my heart. Every year, Arbella’s employees are able to unite behind a meaningful cause, make an impact, and play a part in providing cancer care and research to those battling cancer,” said John Donohue, chairman, president, and CEO of the Arbella Insurance Group and chairman and president of the Arbella Insurance Foundation. “We are proud to host our sixteenth Pink Day with Dana-Farber. To be able to partner with such an inspiring organization so close to home is a truly wonderful opportunity each year.”
This year, Arbella was honored to welcome Dana-Farber patient Shirley Joseph of Brockton, Massachusetts to Pink Day. Shirley is a passionate creative artist, music performer, and also recently opened her own hair salon in Quincy, Locs By Us. Shirley was diagnosed in January 2024 with inflammatory breast cancer and immediately underwent chemotherapy and surgery at Dana-Farber. She is a fierce advocate of raising awareness of this rare form of the disease and has not let this difficult year stall her lifelong dreams.
With the support of her husband, Mike, and close friends, Shirley continues to grow her music career and her business. She was an active participant in this year’s WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon presented by Arbella Insurance in August, where she sang the national anthem at the Red Sox game one evening.
During the all-day fundraiser, Arbella employees dressed in pink and purchased Pink Day t-shirts, the proceeds of which were all donated to Dana-Farber. Each company department created baskets made with employee donations and raffled them off for additional fundraising, which was matched by Arbella’s Foundation.
Magnolia Contreras, MSW, MBA, Vice President of Community Health at Dana-Farber, also joined Pink Day to thank employees for their continued support and generosity.
“Arbella’s continuous support through Pink Day each year has been so impactful over the past sixteen years,” said Contreras. “The collaboration from Arbella’s employees and Arbella’s Foundation allows us to bring life-saving cancer detection and prevention resources to patients across Massachusetts. We are grateful for their efforts.”
To date, Arbella’s Pink Day has raised more than $582,000 for cancer awareness and screenings. This year’s funds raised will directly support Dana-Farber’s Community Mobile Benefits program, specifically the Sun Safety/Skin Cancer Prevention Program, which provides sun safety and skin cancer-related information and screening at no cost, and additionally Dana-Farber’s Mammography Van. As the only mobile mammography program in Massachusetts, Dana-Farber’s Mammography Van provides free mammograms and breast health education to medically eligible women aged 40 years and older. The Mammography Van partners with community-based organizations and neighborhood health centers in its mission to decrease breast cancer morbidity and mortality among medically underserved women and increase survival rates for those diagnosed with breast cancer. The Van has provided more than 53,000 mammograms to more than 24,000 unique patients in the City of Boston and surrounding towns since 2002.
