The Bridge
The Pan-Mass Challenge Cycles Beyond $1 Billion in Lifetime Fundraising for Cancer Research in 45 Years
World’s Single Most Successful Athletic Fundraiser Aims to Raise Unprecedented $75 million in 2024
The Pan-Mass Challenge
BOSTON /PRNewswire/ — On Saturday, August 3, and Sunday, August 4, the Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC) will bring together thousands of cyclists and volunteers from around the world with a goal of raising $75 million during its milestone 45th ride. This year, the PMC crossed $1 billion in lifetime fundraising for cancer research and treatment for its sole beneficiary, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
When the PMC was founded in 1980, there were fewer than five million cancer survivors in the United States. Today, that number is more than 18 million—and growing. As Dana-Farber’s largest single contributor—accounting for 62 percent of its Jimmy Fund’s annual revenue—PMC funding has enabled the Institute to drive change in how cancer is researched and treated. The PMC’s “fingerprints” can be found in every research breakthrough and all areas of care, from immunotherapy to cancer care equity efforts. PMC funding assists with many innovative programs including Dana-Farber’s ongoing work to treat pediatric brain cancer that led to recent FDA approval of tovorafenib (now known as OJEMDA). The drug targets for pediatric low-grade glioma in patients six months and older. Many of the drug’s early clinical trials were funded directly by PMC riders who had family members with pediatric brain cancer.
For the 18th consecutive year, the PMC will donate 100 percent of every rider-raised dollar directly to Dana-Farber to support trailblazing innovations like this that save lives and advance the standards of care in the fight against cancer.
“This is a momentous year for the PMC and our community—from our cyclists to our volunteers, donors and sponsors,” said Billy Starr, founder and executive director of the PMC and a Dana-Farber trustee. “While I knew in 1980 that I had created something special, I couldn’t have predicted the PMC would turn into the fundraising behemoth it is today. As I saddle up for my 45th ride, I am immensely grateful for each and every individual who has contributed to this $1 billion fundraising achievement and who will help us kick start fundraising towards our next billion.”
PMC 2024 will bring together 6,800 riders from 10 countries and 45 states and territories, including many who ride in honor of someone close to them who has been affected by cancer. In addition, 3,500 volunteers will support the event across the rides’ 16 one- and two-day routes throughout Massachusetts. The routes range from 25 to 211 miles and accommodate all levels of cycling and fundraising ability. At the cornerstone of the PMC community are the more than 1,100 riders and volunteers who are cancer survivors and current patients, considered Living Proof® of the PMC’s mission, and the progress made through fundraising for cancer research and care.
“For over four and a half decades, PMC funding has played an integral and impactful role in our researchers’ and doctors’ abilities to innovate and discover new ways to treat cancer,” said Laurie H. Glimcher, MD, president and chief executive officer of Dana-Farber. “The energy and excitement each PMC Weekend brings is unmatched—I’m looking forward to cheering on the PMC community, including 160 Dana-Farber colleagues who are riding and volunteering, as we celebrate crossing $1 billion raised together.”
The PMC is co-presented by the Red Sox Foundation® and M&T Bank. To make a financial contribution to a rider from your town, visit www.pmc.org, or call (800) WE-CYCLE. Connect with #PMC2024 on Facebook, X, Instagram and LinkedIn.
About the Pan-Mass Challenge
The Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC) is a bike-a-thon that today raises more money for charity than any other single athletic fundraising event in the world. The PMC was founded in 1980 by Billy Starr, who remains the event’s executive director, an annual cyclist, and a fundraiser. The PMC has since raised $972 million for adult and pediatric patient care and cancer research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute through the Jimmy Fund. The event donates 100 percent of every rider-raised dollar directly to the cause, generating 62 percent of the Jimmy Fund’s annual revenue as Dana-Farber’s single largest contributor. The PMC has successfully melded support from committed cyclists, volunteers, corporate sponsors, and individual contributors, all of which are essential to the PMC’s goal and model: to attain maximum fundraising efficiency while increasing its annual gift. The PMC’s hope and aspiration is to provide Dana-Farber’s doctors and researchers with the necessary resources to discover cures for all cancers. For more information on the Pan-Mass Challenge, visit www.pmc.org.
About Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is one of the world’s leading centers of cancer research and treatment. Dana-Farber’s mission is to reduce the burden of cancer through scientific inquiry, clinical care, education, community engagement, and advocacy. Dana-Farber is a federally designated Comprehensive Cancer Center and a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. We provide the latest treatments in cancer for adults through Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center and for children through Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center. Dana-Farber is the only hospital nationwide with a top 5 U.S. News & World Report Best Cancer Hospital ranking in both adult and pediatric care. As a global leader in oncology, Dana-Farber is dedicated to a unique and equal balance between cancer research and care, translating the results of discovery into new treatments for patients locally and around the world, offering more than 1,100 clinical trials.
SOURCE Pan-Mass Challenge
The Bridge is a section of the STM Daily News Blog meant for diversity, offering real news stories about bona fide community efforts to perpetuate a greater good. The purpose of The Bridge is to connect the divides that separate us, fostering understanding and empathy among different groups. By highlighting positive initiatives and inspirational actions, The Bridge aims to create a sense of unity and shared purpose. This section brings to light stories of individuals and organizations working tirelessly to promote inclusivity, equality, and mutual respect. Through these narratives, readers are encouraged to appreciate the richness of diverse perspectives and to participate actively in building stronger, more cohesive communities.
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art, culture and humanities
The brief but shining life of Paul Laurence Dunbar, a poet who gave dignity to the Black experience

Minnita Daniel-Cox, University of Dayton
Paul Laurence Dunbar was only 33 years old when he died in 1906.
In his short yet prolific life, Dunbar used folk dialect to give voice and dignity to the experience of Black Americans at the turn of the 20th century. He was the first Black American to make a living as a writer and was seminal in the start of the New Negro Movement and Harlem Renaissance.
Dunbar also penned one of the most iconic phrases in Black literature – “I know why the caged bird sings” – his poem “Sympathy.”
“… When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore, When he beats his bars and he would be free; It is not a carol of joy or glee, But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core, But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings – I know why the caged bird sings!”
Published in 1899, “Sympathy” inspired acclaimed Black writer and activist Maya Angelou to use Dunbar’s line as the title of her seminal autobiography.
But Dunbar’s artistic legacy is often overlooked. This, despite the fact that his work influenced a number of other great African American literary giants, including Langston Hughes, Nikki Giovanni, James Weldon Johnson, Zora Neale Hurston and Margaret Walker.
In a very real sense, Dunbar is your favorite poet’s favorite poet.
A blooming life of writing
Born on June 27, 1872, to two formerly enslaved people from Kentucky, Dunbar was raised by his mother, and they eventually settled in Dayton, Ohio.
While there, Dunbar attended the integrated Dayton Central High School. An exceptional writer, Dunbar was the only Black student in his class and became editor-in-chief of the high school newspaper as well as a member of the literary and drama clubs and debating society.
He also became friends with a white classmate who, with his brother, would later invent the airplane – Orville Wright.
The two knew each other well.
Their friendship led to business as the Wright brothers, who owned a printing press, were the first to print Dunbar’s writings, including the newspaper Dunbar started and edited, the Dayton Tattler, the first Black newspaper in that city.
After high school, the lives of Dunbar and Wright took different turns.
Unable to find consistent pay for his writing, Dunbar worked a variety of jobs, including as a janitor in one downtown Dayton office building and as an elevator operator in another. Not one to miss a business opportunity, the 20-year-old Dunbar sold his first book of poetry, “Oak and Ivy,” to passengers he met on the elevator.
He found another such job after he moved to Washington, D.C., and worked stacking shelves at the Library of Congress. According to his wife, Alice Dunbar, an accomplished writer in her own right, it was there that her husband began to think about a caged bird.
“… The torrid sun poured its rays down into the courtyard of the library and heated the iron grilling of the book stacks until they were like prison bars in more senses than one,” Dunbar wrote. “The dry dust of the dry books … rasped sharply in his hot throat, and he understood how the bird felt when it beats its wings against its cage.”
Dunbar’s first break came when he was invited to recite his poems at the 1893 Worlds Fair, where he met Frederick Douglass, the famous abolitionist. Impressed, Douglass gave Dunbar a job and called him the “the most promising young colored man in America.”
Dunbar’s second break came three years later. On his 24th birthday, he received a glowing Harper’s Weekly review of his second book of poetry, “Majors and Minors,” from the prominent Ohio-raised literary critic William Dean Howells.
That review came with a mixed blessing. Howells’ praise of Dunbar’s use of dialect limited Dunbar’s ability to sell his other styles of writing.
But that same review helped catapult Dunbar to international acclaim.
His stardom didn’t last long, though.
Diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1900, Dunbar died from complications of the disease on Feb. 9, 1906.
But his work survives.
Dunbar’s musical legacy
In all, Dunbar wrote 600 poems, 12 books of poetry, five novels, four volumes of short stories, essays, hundreds of newspaper articles and lyrics for musicals.
His poetry has been continuously set by composers, from his contemporaries to living composers still living today, including Carrie Jacobs Bond, John Carpenter, Harry Thacker Burleigh, William Bolcom and Zenobia Powell Perry.
Florence Price’s numerous settings of his texts include popular and advertisement music, while William Grant Still’s “Afro-American” symphony features spoken epigraphs of Dunbar poems before each movement.
Dunbar’s legacy in apparent not only in the concert hall, but on the theatrical stage as well.
Dunbar was librettist for an operetta by Samuel Coleridge Taylor, “Dream Lovers,” written specifically for Black singers.
Dunbar’s own extraordinary life became the subject for operas as composers Adolphus Hailstork, Richard Thompson, Steven Allen and Jeff Arwady composed works depicting Dunbar’s legacy.
The collaborations of Dunbar and Will Marion Cook produced the first examples of contemporary musical theater.
Without Paul’s contributions with “In Dahomey” and “Jes Lak White Fo’ks,” in my view there would be no “Hamilton,” the modern Broadway musical written by Lin-Manuel Miranda in 2015.
‘We wear the mask’
Dunbar’s works celebrated all of humanity.
He turned the plantation tradition on its head by using dialect to not only offer critical social commentary, as in his poem “When Malindy Sings,” but also to portray oft-ignored humanity, as in “When Dey ‘Listed Colored Soldiers.”
Dunbar’s works provide historical snapshots into the everyday lives of working-class Black Americans.
None were as poignant as his poem “We Wear the Mask.”
“We wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes, This debt we pay to human guile; With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, And mouth with myriad subtleties.”
Minnita Daniel-Cox, Associate Professor of Music, University of Dayton
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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College Life
Unlock Educational Opportunities: Scholarships Available for Arizona High School Seniors!
The Archer Ragsdale Arizona Chapter announces scholarship opportunities for graduating high school seniors in Arizona, including the Ashby-Herring and William A. Campbell Memorial Scholarships. Apply by deadlines for support.

Hello ARAC members and supporters!
It’s that exciting time of year again – scholarship season! 🎓 If you know any graduating high school seniors in Arizona who are planning to further their education in college, make sure to share the news about the incredibly valuable Ashby-Herring and William A. Campbell Memorial Scholarships.
Ashby-Herring Scholarships: Empowering the Next Generation
The Archer Ragsdale Arizona Chapter is thrilled to provide two $1,500 scholarships to deserving students through the Ashby-Herring scholarship program. This initiative is all about supporting African American high school seniors who have demonstrated academic excellence and are on the path to college.
Eligibility Criteria:
- Graduating high school senior from Arizona
- Planning to attend a 2 or 4-year college/university
- African American
- Minimum 3.0 GPA
- Demonstrated financial need
The deadline to apply for the Ashby-Herring scholarships is fast approaching—April 15! This is a fantastic opportunity for students to gain financial assistance as they embark on their college journey.
Students can simplify their application process by applying through the Arizona Community Foundation. One application opens the door to over 160 eligible scholarships, making it easier for them to find the right funding for their educational goals.
Honoring Legacy: The William A. Campbell Memorial Scholarship
In addition to the Ashby-Herring scholarships, we are delighted to continue the tradition of honoring the legacy of William A. Campbell with the William A. Campbell Memorial Scholarship. Sponsored by Steve Campbell, the son of the late William A. Campbell, and Colonel Richard Toliver Ret., this scholarship aims to support students pursuing careers in STEM.
Eligibility Criteria:
- High school senior with a minimum overall GPA of 2.7
- Attending college/university with a major in any STEM discipline
- Submission of a 500-word essay detailing how the Tuskegee Airmen’s legacy has motivated you
One to two scholarships of $1,500 will be awarded annually, with applications accepted until May 31. This scholarship not only provides financial support but also connects students to a rich heritage of perseverance and excellence.
Workshops and Support
To ensure that applicants feel confident and prepared, several workshops have been scheduled to guide students through the application process. These workshops will provide valuable insights and tips to help make the application stand out.
For more information about scholarship offerings or to attend a workshop, please reach out to the Arizona Community Foundation at [email protected].
Spread the Word!
Help us ensure that deserving students don’t miss out on these fantastic opportunities! If you know someone who could benefit from these scholarships, please share this information with them. Together, we can empower the next generation of leaders and scholars.
Let’s make education accessible and celebrated. Thank you for your support and for spreading the word!
Happy scholarship season! 🌟
For further details, check the Arizona Community Foundation website or contact our scholarship contacts. Your support can make a world of difference! https://www.azfoundation.org/scholarship-seekers/scholarships/
STM Daily News is a vibrant news blog dedicated to sharing the brighter side of human experiences. Emphasizing positive, uplifting stories, the site focuses on delivering inspiring, informative, and well-researched content. With a commitment to accurate, fair, and responsible journalism, STM Daily News aims to foster a community of readers passionate about positive change and engaged in meaningful conversations. Join the movement and explore stories that celebrate the positive impacts shaping our world.
The Bridge is a section of the STM Daily News Blog meant for diversity, offering real news stories about bona fide community efforts to perpetuate a greater good. The purpose of The Bridge is to connect the divides that separate us, fostering understanding and empathy among different groups. By highlighting positive initiatives and inspirational actions, The Bridge aims to create a sense of unity and shared purpose. This section brings to light stories of individuals and organizations working tirelessly to promote inclusivity, equality, and mutual respect. Through these narratives, readers are encouraged to appreciate the richness of diverse perspectives and to participate actively in building stronger, more cohesive communities.
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The Bridge
What the ‘moral distress’ of doctors tells us about eroding trust in health care
The article discusses the ethical dilemmas faced by healthcare providers when families demand life-sustaining treatments for patients unlikely to benefit, highlighting moral distress and trust issues.

Daniel T. Kim, Albany Medical College
I sit on an ethics review committee at the Albany Med Health System in New York state, where doctors and nurses frequently bring us fraught questions.
Consider a typical case: A 6-month-old child has suffered a severe brain injury following cardiac arrest. A tracheostomy, ventilator and feeding tube are the only treatments keeping him alive. These intensive treatments might prolong the child’s life, but he is unlikely to survive. However, the mother – citing her faith in a miracle – wants to keep the child on life support. The clinical team is distressed – they feel they’re only prolonging the child’s dying process.
Often the question the medical team struggles with is this: Are we obligated to continue life-supporting treatments?
Bioethics, a modern academic field that helps resolve such fraught dilemmas, evolved in its early decades through debates over several landmark cases in the 1970s to the 1990s. The early cases helped establish the right of patients and their families to refuse treatments.
But some of the most ethically challenging cases, in both pediatric and adult medicine, now present the opposite dilemma: Doctors want to stop aggressive treatments, but families insist on continuing them. This situation can often lead to moral distress for doctors – especially at a time when trust in providers is falling.
Consequences of lack of trust
For the family, withdrawing or withholding life-sustaining treatments from a dying loved one, even if doctors advise that the treatment is unlikely to succeed or benefit the patient, can be overwhelming and painful. Studies show that their stress can be at the same level as people who have just survived house fires or similar catastrophes.
While making such high-stakes decisions, families need to be able to trust their doctor’s information; they need to be able to believe that their recommendations come from genuine empathy to serve only the patient’s interests. This is why prominent bioethicists have long emphasized trustworthiness as a central virtue of good clinicians.
However, the public’s trust in medical leaders has been on a precipitous decline in recent decades. Historical polling data and surveys show that trust in physicians is lower in the U.S. than in most industrialized countries. A recent survey from Sanofi, a pharmaceutical company, found that mistrust of the medical system is even worse among low-income and minority Americans, who experience discrimination and persistent barriers to care. The COVID-19 pandemic further accelerated the public’s lack of trust.
In the clinic, mistrust can create an untenable situation. Families can feel isolated, lacking support or expertise they can trust. For clinicians, the situation can lead to burnout, affecting quality and access to care as well as health care costs. According to the National Academy of Medicine, “The opportunity to attend to and ease suffering is the reason why many clinicians enter the healing professions.” When doctors see their patients suffer for avoidable reasons, such as mistrust, they often suffer as well.
At a time of low trust, families can be especially reluctant to take advice to end aggressive treatment, which makes the situation worse for everyone.
Ethics of the dilemma
Physicians are not ethically obligated to provide treatments that are of no benefit to the patient, or may even be harmful, even if the family requests them. But it can often be very difficult to say definitively what treatments are beneficial or harmful, as each of those can be characterized differently based on the goals of treatment. In other words, many critical decisions depend on judgment calls.
Consider again the typical case of the 6-month-old child mentioned above who had suffered severe brain injury and was not expected to survive. The clinicians told the ethics review committee that even if the child were to miraculously survive, he would never be able to communicate or reach any “normal” milestones. The child’s mother, however, insisted on keeping him alive. So, the committee had to recommend continuing life support to respect the parent’s right to decide.
Physicians inform, recommend and engage in shared decision-making with families to help clarify their values and preferences. But if there’s mistrust, the process can quickly break down, resulting in misunderstandings and conflicts about the patient’s best interests and making a difficult situation more distressing. https://www.youtube.com/embed/MY4e4l-eAFk?wmode=transparent&start=0 Moral distress in health care.
Moral distress
When clinicians feel unable to provide what they believe to be the best care for patients, it can result in what bioethicists call “moral distress.” The term was coined in 1984 in nursing ethics to describe the experience of nurses who were forced to provide treatments that they felt were inappropriate. It is now widely invoked in health care.
Numerous studies have shown that levels of moral distress among clinicians are high, with 58% of pediatric and neonatal intensive care clinicians in a study experiencing significant moral distress. While these studies have identified various sources of moral distress, having to provide aggressive life support despite feeling that it’s not in the patient’s interest is consistently among the most frequent and intense.
Watching a patient suffer feels like a dereliction of duty to many health care workers. But as long as they are appropriately respecting the patient’s right to decide – or a parent’s, in the case of a minor – they are not violating their professional duty, as my colleagues and I argued in a recent paper. Doctors sometimes express their distress as a feeling of guilt, of “having blood on their hands,” but, we argue, they are not guilty of any wrongdoing. In most cases, the distress shows that they’re not indifferent to what the decision may mean for the patient.
Clinicians, however, need more support. Persistent moral distresses that go unaddressed can lead to burnout, which may cause clinicians to leave their practice. In a large American Medical Association survey, 35.7% of physicians in 2022-23 expressed an intent to leave their practice within two years.
But with the right support, we also argued, feelings of moral distress can be an opportunity to reflect on what they can control in the circumstance. It can also be a time to find ways to improve the care doctors provide, including communication and building trust. Institutions can help by strengthening ethics consultation services and providing training and support for managing complex cases.
Difficult and distressing decisions, such as the case of the 6-month-old child, are ubiquitous in health care. Patients, their families and clinicians need to be able to trust each other to sustain high-quality care.
Daniel T. Kim, Assistant Professor of Bioethics, Albany Medical College
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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