STAR LEDGER NOVEMBER 15, 2007 news article appeared before Sisters Network of Central NJ experienced VICTORY that evening at Franklin Township Zoning Board Meeting. Variance was unanimously approved. •
Sanctuary for women close to a reality
Sisters Network aids breast cancer patients
Thursday, November 15, 2007
STAR LEDGER - SNCNJ News Article - Nov 15 2007

BY SEUNG MIN KIM
Star-Ledger Staff
To the Sisters Network of Central New Jersey, the snow-white, colonial-style home in Franklin Township is an ideal sanctuary for women dealing with the aftermath of breast cancer.

And pending final approval tonight from the township's board of adjustment, the Hamilton Street property will be the organization's new home.

"The house really gives us the serenity that many of the women need," said LaReatha Payne, vice president of the Sisters Network. "This is a place where a woman, if she's fed up with the environment at home, can chill out."

The 7-year-old chapter of the national Sisters Network Inc., a nonprofit group that raises awareness about breast cancer in African-American women and provides support and counseling, will ask for a use variance on the 3-acre property, which is currently zoned residential.

Mark Healey, the township's director of planning, said the group will need to address several questions, including whether it will make major renovations to the home and how much traffic the center will add to the area.
But both the site plans and the organization indicate no structural changes are planned.

The former location of the Art Institute of New Brunswick, a 4,000-square-foot home with a black roof and trimmings, the building is shielded by hundreds of trees from the heavily trafficked road and contains a gravel parking lot that holds approximately 30 cars.

"If they're doing what it looks like they're doing, which is essentially moving in, then I don't have too many concerns," Healey said. "It's a low-intensity use for a three-acre property and might be less intense than an art school."
The central New Jersey branch of the organization -- which has 34 chapters nationwide, including Newark, Trenton and Paterson -- plans to use the home for office space, staff meetings and monthly support group sessions for about 25 women. The facility's site plans include offices, conference and meeting rooms and a library.

During the year, the Sisters Network hosts speaking engagements, health fairs and fund-raisers, which are mostly held outside of its headquarters. Primarily serving women from Middlesex, Union and Somerset counties, the organization's six staff members also provide support for women who may need advice or any other assistance.

"We do everything we need to do to help women get through their treatment," Payne said of the organization, which runs primarily on donations and grants. "If we have to baby-sit their children, if we have to come in and clean their house, we do that."

Sisters Network purchased the property, located just east of Hamilton's intersection with Wheeler Place, for about $799,000, Payne said.

"This house is such a blessing," she added. "It's intended to be a beacon, a light in the community whereby people can call and get information and get direction. We really are a community service."

The board of adjustment meeting is planned for 7:30 p.m. tonight in the municipal building, 475 DeMott Lane.
Seung Min Kim may be reached at skim@starledger.com or (908) 429-9925.

Nearly 1600 people convened at the municipal complex Saturday for the Sisters Network of Central Jersey's third annual Robyn Michele Collins Memorial Breast Cancer Awareness Walk, bringing together survivors and raising money for the organization.

Last year's walk financed reconstructive surgery for a 41-year-old survivor whose insurance didn't cover the procedure.
"I've had weeks and weekends when I would be in bed, but it's so important to be here, just to tell my story and put a real face behind the shirt," said Lowery, who was wearing the bright pink breast cancer shirt each participant received. "I feel ill but I think it's more important for me to be here than to be home in bed."

Sisters Network, a national organization that began in 1997 to provide support for black women with breast cancer, aims to educate women about their risks and bring together survivors. A group of four survivors brought the organization to Central Jersey because they couldn't find another support group where they felt comfortable.

"We got together and said we need to form something," said Dorothy Reed, president of the Central Jersey chapter and one of the four founding members. "We were going to the Cancer Institute's support group but for some reason black women didn't come or didn't keep coming."

So Reed, Lareatha Payne, Rosa Davis and Pearl Grace began the Sisters Network in the area in 2000, holding annual events and monthly survivor meetings to bring people together.
Grace died a year later, but the three other founding members continue to organize and attend all the events.

The Pearl Grace Memorial Golf Tournament will be held Oct. 15 at the Trenton Country Club. A health summit will take place Dec. 1 at the Hyatt Regency. And the group sponsors a "mammogram contest," in which women show proof of their mammogram to be entered in a drawing with a grand prize of $500.

"The idea is to encourage women to get the annual mammogram, and to bring them together," said Bebe Major, the organization's public relations director and coordinator of 5K. "If something turns up on the mammogram, participants already have hundreds of friends to lean on for support."

Payne, the chapter vice president, was first diagnosed in 1997. She underwent a lumpectomy and radiation, but the cancer came back in 2005. It didn't show up on a mammogram, but Payne said she knew it was there. "I had to insist on additional testing, and that's when it was found," she said.
This time she had a mastectomy, and now the cancer is under control.

Behind her, Lowery was standing under a tent as "This Little Light of Mine" blasted from the speakers. Groups of survivors wearing bright pink T-shirts were singing and dancing to the electrifying sounds of Valerie Adams &
The Dimensions Band, a 5K sponsor.

"It's good to have your family and friends," Lowery said. "But unless you've walked in these shoes, you truly don't know what we're going through."

— Contributions can be sent to the Sisters Network of Central Jersey at 1201 Hamilton Street, Somerset, NJ, 08873 (732) 246-8300.