On Saturday, June 24, more than 200 swimmers and 100 land volunteers, boaters and kayakers will make waves in the fight to defeat cancer in the 11th annual Swim Across America Greenwich-Stamford Swim. The Greenwich-Stamford Swim Across America event is held on the border of Old Greenwich and Stamford, at 96 Cummings Point Rd., Stamford, that is home to the Swim’s beneficiary, the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT).
Each year, the Greenwich-Stamford Swim Across America Swim grows with more swimmers, more volunteers and more money raised in the fight to defeat cancer. This year, Swim Across America is seeing more local high school swim teams and their coaches signing up, such as Greenwich High School swim team coaches Terry Lowe and Lorrie Hokayem who are leading Team Julian, as well as Darien High School swim coach Marjorie Trifone with Team Blue Wave Swim & Dive. Teams are also a big part of the Greenwich-Stamford Swim with more than 20 teams already registered. One of the largest teams is Team Julian, with members swimming in honor of Julian Fraser, a 2014 Greenwich High School graduate and captain of the GHS swim and water polo teams, who sadly passed away earlier this year after an eleven-month battle with cancer. Julian’s father Alec Fraser will be the honored speaker at this year’s Swim.
The Greenwich-Stamford Swim Across America event has supported the research of several ACGT-funded scientists. This year’s Swim will support Dr. Samuel Katz, an assistant professor of pathology at Yale University who is studying the use of immunotherapy using RNA to attack cancer cells in blood cancers; and Dr. Crystal Mackall, associate director of Stanford Cancer Institute, the director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Stanford, and director of the Cancer Immunotherapy Program, Department of Pediatrics at Stanford Cancer Center, who is using the ACGT Swim Across America grant to focus on immunotherapy to treat osteosarcoma.
For those that aren’t able to swim or volunteer, there is a way to “Shop to Support Swim Across America.” The following stores are all donating a portion of sales to the Greenwich-Stamford Swim Across America event.
Throughout the month of June, shop at:
- Hilburn – shop during the whole month of June and Nancy Carr, personal stylist with J. Hilburn, will donate 10% of the month’s sales. nancycarr.jhilburn.com
On June 22, shop at:
SPLURGE Gifts – 39 Lewis St.: 3 to 6 p.m., 10% of sales will be donated.
Claudette – 177 Sound Beach Ave.: 10% of sales.
DiMare Pastry Shop – 1245 E. Putnam Ave.: 10% of sales.
Lily Pulitzer – 92 Greenwich Ave.: 4 to 7 p.m., 10% of sales.
Vineyard Vines – 145 Greenwich Ave.: 10% off all merchandise from 4 to 7 p.m. and 10% of sales.
On June 29, shop at:
Lily – 250 Sound Beach Ave.: 3 to 7 p.m., stop by Lily in Old Greenwich for Lily shoes and accessories and a J. Hilburn menswear trunk show. Lily will donate 10% of the sales from the event and J. Hilburn will donate 10% of sales for the whole month of June.
For swimmers, boaters, kayakers, paddle boarders and land volunteers interested in participating in the June 24, 11th annual Swim Across America Greenwich-Stamford Swim, registration is available at swimacrossamerica.org/greenwich. A pool swim is also available. For more information, email greenwich@swimacrossamerica.org or call 203-570-9195.
