Cancer society donates money to Wellness Community program

GIFT OF WELLNESS- Harvey and Alice Diamond present a $5,000 donation to Suzanne Drace, far left, program director of the Wellness Community Valley/Ventura, to support the Kids' Circle, a program that helps children cope when loved ones become ill with cancer.

The Jennifer Diamond Cancer Foundation has donated $5,000 to help underwrite a portion of the Wellness Community Valley/Ventura Kid's Circle program for 2007. The funds will help support the Tuesday afternoon program for children between the ages of 5 and 11 who have a parent or a grandparent with cancer.

Harvey Diamond, president of the Jennifer Diamond Cancer Foundation said, "The Kid's Circle program . . . allows (children) the opportunity to express themselves through art, music, poetry and storytelling. When a parent or a grandparent is going through the cancer journey, the children need to have an outlet to deal with their feelings and this program allows them that outlet. My wife, Alice, and I are so proud to be able to make this donation on behalf of our foundation to the Wellness Community."

The Jennifer Diamond Cancer Foundation, a nonprofit public charity, was created in 2002 before the passing of Harvey and Alice Diamond's daughter, Jennifer, from appendix cancer. The foundation's mission is to help people fight all forms of cancer, focusing on educating people and supporting research and healing programs.

The foundation has opened three research libraries including one at the Wellness Community in Westlake Village. The fourth library will open this year at the Cancer Center of Ventura County at St. John's Regional Medical Center in Oxnard.

For more information, call (310) 551-0800.