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Cancer is overwhelming and disrupts lives. Community gives a sense of hopefulness. We are a relentless ally for anyone who is managing the realities of this disruptive disease. Through support groups, individual counseling, healthy lifestyle activities, social events, resources, and children’s programs, you’ll find the community to help you navigate your cancer experience.
No one should face cancer alone.
Nothing takes the place of the power, inspiration, companionship, and connection that comes from community. We provide relevant and highly personalized support when and where it is needed most because Community is Stronger than Cancer.
Our mission is to uplift and strengthen people impacted by cancer by providing support, fostering compassionate communities, and breaking down barriers to care.
Our global network traces its roots to a yellow house in Santa Monica, California, where Harriet and Dr. Harold Benjamin transformed the way our culture faces cancer.
After Harriet’s diagnosis with cancer in 1972, Dr. Benjamin sought to create a community that would provide social and emotional support to cancer patients and their families and friends — all free of charge.
In 1982, The Wellness Community opened its doors in Santa Monica, California.
Gilda Radner, the late comedian and an original cast member on “Saturday Night Live” benefited from The Wellness Community after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1986. Her experience inspired her to call for similar support-focused organizations.
Although Gilda passed away in 1989, her husband, Gene Wilder, and Joanna Bull, along with other friends and family, answered her call to action. Together, they founded Gilda’s Club New York City, and it opened its iconic Red Door in 1995.
In 2007, the Institute of Medicine released a report emphasizing the importance of addressing the social and emotional needs of individuals facing cancer, rather than just their physical needs. The report underscored what The Wellness Community and Gilda’s Club Worldwide, and their affiliate networks, had been doing for many years and sparked merger discussions between the two organizations to increase efficiencies and serve even more patients.
In 2009, The Wellness Community and Gilda’s Club Worldwide became one organization: Cancer Support Community.
Here in North Texas, a group of committed women got together and decided we needed our own Gilda’s Club to offer support to everyone in our community impacted by cancer. Thanks to their vision, their commitment and efforts, we opened our very own welcoming Red Door as Gilda’s Club North Texas on Oak Lawn Avenue in Dallas in 2002. As a result of the merger between the Gilda’s Club and The Wellness Community organizations in 2009, our Board of Directors decided that we become Cancer Support Community North Texas. Concurrently, because of the growing need to expand our services, we re-located from our location on Oak Lawn Avenue to the Cancer Center on the Texas Health Dallas campus and added two additional locations to serve Collin and Tarrant County. We now have three locations sporting our iconic and welcoming Red Doors across the metroplex.
COVID-19 provided an unintended positive consequence for CSCNT – while temporarily closing our physical locations to in-person services, we transitioned all support services to a virtual platform. The result was that we reached and expanded our services across Texas and beyond to cancer patients and those supporting them when they were isolated and most needed our support. All our locations have re-opened our welcoming Red Doors and we will still provide our services virtually.
CSCNT continues to evolve, and creatively and meaningfully provide essential services to our community, and everyone impacted by cancer, and all services remain at no-cost to all those who need it.
Your gift of time, talent, and energy ensure that our programs remain free of charge for the community. Come join our growing team of volunteers.
We rely on the generosity of the community to keep our programs free to everyone impacted by cancer. There are many ways to give and many people to help.