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May 15, 2024

25th Annual Champions Fighting Cancer Walk 2024


A time-honored tradition in the heart of a resilient Massachusetts city drew outstanding crowds on May 5th, 2024, for an annual community effort to raise vital necessary funds for cancer programs and services in the area.

Despite the cooler spring weather, the 25th Annual Champions Fighting Cancer Walk gathered thousands to walk 4.5 miles from Brockton High School to the Greene Cancer Center. The route featured a water stop at the Central Branch YMCA underscoring Signature Healthcare’s partnership with the Old Colony YMCA on health and wellness programs. Completely staffed and organized by volunteers, proceeds go directly to cancer programs and services at Signature Healthcare as well as the Chrystine M. Sullivan Memorial Foundation and its community partners.

 event collateral with multicolored disembodied legs seemingly running across the top of the photo from left to right beneath is the Sullivan Tire and Auto Service Employee-Owned Logo (green, yellow, black) centered, beneath are the words: THANK YOU TO ALL PARTICIPANTS, DONORS, AND VOLUNTEERS! in yellow font, beneath that line is the event title "Champions Fighting Cancer", beneath are 3 photos of different participant Teams with varying matching tshirt colors, in the first photo are a group of 4 people of color with matching black team shirts and a man in front tosses his arms up in enthusiasm and he appears to be cheering, 2nd photo is of a group of 15 in white team t-shirts predominantly women of color 3 are holding brightly colored photo props (rainbow, guitar, trophy), the last photo across is  a team photo of a group of 13 smiling white people in light blue shirts holding a sign with a name printed on it, beneath is printed Brockton, MA SUNDAY MAY 5TH, 2024 surrounded by 2 blue foot prints that contain breast cancer ribbons of varying colors, on the bottom the Signature Health Care is printed beside company logo and to the right of that is printed: The Chrystine M. Sullivan Memorial Foundation

The Chrystine Sullivan Memorial Foundation’s partnership with Signature-Healthcare Foundation to hold the annual Champion's Fighting Cancer Walk over the years has become a foundational community event for the long-standing city of Brockton for a quarter of a century.

Withstanding the test of time, the energy of the event was one of shared love, loss, and dedication to the pursuit of a full life for every person despite diagnosis. This specific effort is a testament to the message of hope and resiliency in the face of cancer, with some attendees flying in from other states to participate. One familiar family of faces has been known to travel collectively over 1,000 miles to reunite every year for the walk!

A team of 4 women stand in front of a concrete wall adorn with a balloon wreath, on the back of their matching t-shirts a pink butterfly is spread across with the names of loved ones printed too small for readability, the women have their arms drapped across eachothers shoulders

It was clear from smiling faces and hands held tightly that love continues to be the focal point of the event. The walk's origin can be traced back to a tale of perseverance and selflessness centered around a mother of 5 and her brave battle with breast cancer. As Mother’s Day was observed this month of May the story of Chrystine M. Sullivan, a mother of 5 and the woman who inspired the collective effort, is one that resonated with many attendees of the walk.

Chrystine M. Sullivan was a humanitarian who dedicated her time and resources to bring positivity and aid to terminally ill children and their families. Despite facing her own diagnosis of metastasized breast cancer, Chrystine did not allow the doctor's prediction of a single year left to live stop her from bravely fighting on. Surrounded by her husband Bob Sullivan, five children, young grandson, and close friends Chrystine reclaimed an additional 5 years before finding peace after a long battle with cancer.

A moving testament to resiliency, her battle inspired her friends and family to continue her legacy. An endowment was established in her name and the Chrystine M. Sullivan Memorial Fund was created the very year Chrystine passed, 1999. With a mission true to the Sullivan family values, the Foundation is dedicated to "providing assistance for treatment and other support services of cancer patients on the South Shore of Massachusetts who could not otherwise afford it. 100% of our fundraising efforts go directly to supporting these causes". Taken directly from the Chrystine Sullivan Memorial Foundation website, these words continue to ring true through the partnership with Signature-Healthcare Foundation to continue the valuable work of fundraising for the fight against cancer.

a group of about 20 walk participants of various ages, predominantly people of color are making their way at varying paces down a sidewalk, almost all are wearing matching lime green matching team t-shirts

Sullivan Tire would like to thank and highlight EVERY VOLUNTEER who helped create and maintain this incredible charitable event! It is our collective efforts that keep our communities centered on the most important part: each other.

Many Sullivan Tire staff across different locations in Massachusetts came together and went above and beyond to support not only a worthy collective cause, but their colleague’s personal reasons for participation. It was a beautiful and unifying effort within the company’s first year as Employee-Owned.

a group of 4 volunteers stand outside chatting 3 are in their brightly colored lime green volunteer branded t-shirts one is wearing a bright orange volunteer shirt and he has very long hair and a beard, everyone looks very happy

Company shuttles were provided to transport Walk participants back to their vehicles after the last mile celebration, volunteer tables featured familiar Sullivan Tire faces, as well as a new additional support of a personal gift to each participating child at the Walk. Generously donated by the Fitzgibbons Family and represented by a long-time employee of the company, stuffed animals were handed out to each child as token of love and comradery to younger participants whose lives and families may have been touched by the disease.

2 little girls approx. between the ages of 5-8 look pleasant, content, and concentrated as they appear to be creating a team sign at a table marked "team signs", an additional sign is visible offering participant photos, another male child passes just behind them

The Annual Champions Fighting Cancer Walk is the signature charity event of Sullivan Tire and Auto Service. The event kicks off an exciting upcoming event season for the company!

BE SURE TO ADD THE SULLIVAN TIRE BLOG TO YOUR SUMMER EVENT BOOKMARKS for upcoming news on exciting opportunities for you and your family to engage in community charity pop-ups, Grand Opening events for any NEWLY OPENED retail locations, exclusive sweepstakes with huge prizes, Big Foot Truck events, Blades the Bruin and Red Sox Big-League Brian photo opportunities, Customer Appreciation Events featuring FREE SWAG and EXCLUSIVE COUPONS, and MORE ACROSS MA, ME, NH, RI! Blog (sullivantire.com)

Sullivan Tire will be working hard to highlight the aspect of “UNITY” in our shared COMMUNITIES across all states this season and you won’t want to miss a beat with the upcoming heat this summer!

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