Church donates to cancer funds

A local church fundraiser has generated more than $32,000 for cancer services and research.

Koinonia Christian Center of Greenville raised the money during its Walk 4 Cancer Faith Walk on Sept. 8. More than 1,100 people registered for the event, and the church donated $27,631 to the Leo W. Jenkins Cancer Center to help cancer patients. It also donated $5,000 to the National LeioMyoSarcoma Foundation in honor of its pastor, Bishop Rosie S. O’neal, who has the rare form of cancer.

From left, Michele Miller, Leo W. Jenkins Cancer Center administrator; Bishop Rosie S. O’neal of Koinonia Christian Center; Ginny Jackson, a cancer center social worker; Fredia Butts, cancer center business manager; and Hollie Wooten, coordinator of the Walk 4 Cancer and a cancer center employee, hold a ceremonial check representing a donation to cancer center assistance funds. Contributed photo

Of the money donated to the cancer center, $20,000 went to the center’s family assistance fund, which triggered a matching $20,000 donation from an anonymous eastern North Carolina foundation, said Greg Prince of the East Carolina University Medical & Health Sciences Foundation. The remainder went to the Monroe-Gacquerel-Winstead Fund. Both assist families at or below poverty levels with expenses associated with travel to the cancer center, food and lodging.

The church has raised more than $130,000 in recent years during its Faith Walks in support of lupus, sickle cell disease, AIDS and other illnesses, said church member Hollie Massenburg-Wooten, who works in the clinical trials office of the cancer center.

The Leo W. Jenkins Cancer Center is a collaboration of ECU and Vidant Health.