dearjackfoundation

Fri Nov 7, 2008 9:05am EST

BURBANK, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
For the third year in a row, Jack's Mannequin's fans' Light the Night team (www.lightthenight.org) have met their fundraising goal, this time by raising $100,000 during the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Light The Night Walk -- an annual event to raise funds for cures. Money raised through Light The Night Walk supports the work of hundreds of the world's best and brightest researchers in their search for better therapies and cures for leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma.

This year, the team raised its largest sum yet, which will go toward creating a research grant. Fans got involved by joining the team via Light the Night's website, where they could get information about where to walk in person locally or become a virtual walker while raising money online for the cause.

The Dear Jack Foundation (www.dearjackfoundation.com), a non-profit organization founded by Andrew McMahon to fund cancer research, donated $40,000 to the team. Last month Andrew walked with Matt Cwiertny, a cancer patient, and his family who raised $16,000 towards the goal.

"Congratulations to everyone on this monumental goal," Andrew says. "I am most certainly in awe. I would like to add that in light of the Cwiertny family's exceptional contribution, as well as the personal connection that has been forged between Matt and myself through the Light The Night walks, it is our hope in the Jack's world to name this grant in his honor. Matt and his family personify everything that has motivated me to pursue charity work. Our goal at the Dear Jack Foundation is to assist efforts that lead to advances and cures for blood disease and cancer, with an emphasis on young adults whose battles are often of a rare nature and are less well researched as a result. To me, Matt represents the fighters I have met
along the way, as well as those who have moved all of you to donate your money and time to these efforts. He, as well as all of you, have inspired me profoundly. Thank you all for committing yourselves to this cause, whether it be for knowing my story or for having confronted such battles in your own lives. Today is a step toward progress for people who are in serious need of breakthroughs in research for their survival. I am very proud to be a part of a community of such hard-working and giving human beings."