Every year during the month of March, the Aubuchon Company supports the ongoing fight against cancer by hosting a fundraiser campaign called Hammer Away Cancer. This Hammer Away Cancer campaign grows bigger each year as word spreads throughout the communities we serve.
In 2021, our stores collectively raised funds totaling just over $54,000! In addition, the Aubuchon Foundation contributed another $25,000, bringing the grand total donation to $79,000! When customers donated $5 or more, we gave them a thank you gift of $5 off their next purchase. That proved to be an effective strategy, but with the implementation of our new point of sale technology, we were able to take our 2022 Hammer Away Cancer campaign to the next level! This year, customers were able to donate their change by rounding up their purchase to the next dollar. They could also choose to donate any dollar amount, regardless of their payment method. This new point of sale technology greatly improved our fundraising abilities.
We ran this program in 107 stores, including all our Aubuchon Hardware branded stores, as well as our newer branded stores such as Lyndonville Hardware & Lumber in Vermont, Village Hardware in Virginia, and our four True Value stores in Pennsylvania.
For us, the Aubuchon Company, choosing to fundraise and donate to the ongoing fight against cancer was a straightforward decision. Everybody knows someone who has been affected by this terrible disease and it could not be more personal to many of our employees.
Richard Hough, store manager of Aubuchon Hardware in Saranac Lake, NY, was diagnosed with Stage 4 Colorectal Cancer in September of 2019. He had surgery to remove a 7 inch tumor from his colon and underwent 16 rounds of chemotherapy along with one month of radiation. In the first months of 2021, those treatments led to a brief remission.
Today, however, Richard is being treated for a metastatic tumor on his liver. “I remain working full time as store manager and work around my treatment schedule,” Richard explained. The Hammer Away Cancer program allows our stores’ communities to take tangible action to support members of the Aubuchon Company family like Richard.
The Aubuchon Company’s commitment to helping Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund defy cancer also resonates with Sean Keane, store manager at True Value in Richboro, PA. Sean lost his childhood best friend to brain cancer when he was only 7 years old. In 2018, his then 24-year-old sister was diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer. She was treated with four rounds of chemotherapy and Sean is thrilled to report that she has been in remission since then.
However, his grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer the following year and underwent chemotherapy. She appeared to have defeated the cancer, only to be taken by COVID-19 weeks later. In a cruel occurrence, Sean’s grandfather was diagnosed with lung cancer shortly after and fell to COVID-19 as well.
“Cancer has unfortunately always been a word in my vocabulary,” commented Sean. “And with each year that goes by, hopefully there are improvements in the medical field to protect those diagnosed, and to take it out of their daily vocabulary. I’m honored to be a part of this fundraiser, and proud to be a part of the Aubuchon family, who cares to raise money to fight this disease.”
Leigh Gamble, store manager of Aubuchon Hardware in Shelburne, VT, supports Hammer Away Cancer in memory of their beloved Great Aunt Judy, whose ovarian cancer became resistant to known treatments. Leigh has been a booster for the program, posting about it on social media and encouraging their customers to get involved. “I’m hopeful that through working with The Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to fund research, we will find options for everyone to keep fighting,” Leigh conveyed. “I didn’t get to say goodbye to my Great Aunt in person due to the pandemic, but I know that through the Aubuchon Foundation’s match to our fundraiser I’ll be giving the gift of changing ‘goodbye’ to ‘hello’ for another person just like me.”
The ability to raise funds for a meaningful cause has had a strong impact on the Aubuchon Company culture. This annual campaign grows substantially larger each year, since we first started it in 2019.
We are proud to announce that this year our stores collectively raised $74,604! To top it off, the Aubuchon Foundation donated $10,396 to bring the grand total to $85,000! That’s $6,000 more than our previous personal record donation to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute!
Dana-Farber has labeled this donation as Unrestricted Funds; the most valuable at the Institute. Unrestricted Funds go where they are needed most. This donation of Unrestricted Funds will help a large number of patients and their families in many different ways, such as: new toys for pediatric patients in Dana-Farber’s Jimmy Fund Clinic, screenings for skin, breast, and prostate cancers, support groups for adult and pediatric patients, personalized consultations to help a patient look and feel their best during treatment, support for a program to help pediatric patients transition back to school, genetic screenings for individual patients as part of Dana-Farber’s Profile Project, support for breakthrough clinical trials, and more!
We would like to say thank you to everyone who came together to make this donation possible! It is the support from our local communities and our passionate employees that drives us to grow this impactful program year after year. Lastly, none of this would have been attainable without our partnership with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and The Jimmy Fund – Thank you for all you do!
Thank you for the meaningful work you do to make our communities better and stronger!