Hundreds of Women Philanthropists To Attend Tower Cancer Research Foundation's Magnolia Council Luncheon & Boutique Honoring Visionary Community Leaders Nancy Mishkin and Harriet Rossetto on Monday, October 12, 2015 in Los Angeles

News provided by

Oct 08, 2015, 08:56 ET

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Over 500 influential and prominent women philanthropists and leaders in entertainment, politics, business and medicine will attend Tower Cancer Research Foundation's (Tower) Magnolia Council Spirit of Hope Luncheon & Boutique on Monday, October 12, 2015 to honor visionary community leaders Nancy Mishkin, Chairman of the Board of Tower, and Harriet Rossetto, Founder and Executive Vice President of Beit T'Shuvah, a residential treatment center and educational institution in West Los Angeles. Several vendors will be present for a lively boutique in advance of the luncheon. The event begins at 10:00 AM at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, 9500 Wilshire Blvd in Beverly Hills, California.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151008/275261LOGO
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151008/275260

Since its inception in 2010, The Magnolia Council has raised over $1.5 million dollars. This energetic and committed group of women community leaders supports Tower's mission by generating broader community awareness through expanded social and fundraising events. The Magnolia Council awards an annual $100,000 research grant to a young physician scientist in Southern California. In addition, The Council also helps fund Tower's LA CanSurvive patient support programs. LA CanSurvive is an integrative survivorship wellness center with in-depth programs offered at no cost to cancer survivors and their loved ones. The goal of this program is to help participants develop a physical and emotional toolkit to manage the challenges of the disease. To that end, Tower's LA CanSurvive programs offer weekly support workshop series and private, individually tailored experiences such as a one-on-one fitness training with a cancer-trained therapist.

Nancy Mishkin, Tower's Board Chair, founded the Magnolia Council to bring together like minded women in a spirit of friendship, fun and philanthropy. In addition to her Tower duties, Nancy currently serves as a board member of Diadames and Beit T'shuvah, where she also served as Chairman of the Board. Previously Nancy held leadership positions at Blue Ribbon of The Music Center, Children's Burn Foundation and the Sonance House Ear Institute. Nancy began studying sculpting in the late 1980's and discovered she had a natural talent for it. She has her own studio and is now frequently commissioned by individuals and foundations throughout Southern California.

Harriet Rossetto is the Founder and Executive Vice President of Beit T'Shuvah, a residential treatment center and educational institution in West Los Angeles. With a one-time grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Harriet bought an old house in a bad neighborhood and called it Beit T'Shuvah - the house of Return and Redemption. Since then, it has grown from the original half-way house model to a nationally recognized faith-based recovery community serving people with substance use disorders and their families. Today, Beit T'Shuvah houses 140 residents and 100 employees (80 percent of whom are former residents) and continues to provide treatment to people who have limited or no financial resources. From the Los Angeles community to the White House, Harriet has been honored as a pioneer in spiritual healing. Harriet describes herself as addicted to redemption and feels that nothing is as moving as witnessing the transformation of the human spirit.

The event is designed to bring attention to the accomplishments of the honorees and raise funding for Tower, a specialized donor-directed cancer research foundation focused on Southern California.

ABOUT TOWER CANCER RESEARCH FOUNDATION Founded in 1996 and primarily focused on Southern California, Tower provides grants for innovative research, caring patient support and community education to promote more effective treatments for cancer. As a leading donor-directed, specialized cancer research foundation in Southern California, Tower has raised over $25 million in the last decade alone. These resources have funded specific groundbreaking research and patient support programs that are professionally vetted by committees comprised of local scientific and community leaders. In addition, Tower awards several $100,000 grants annually to young pioneering physician scientists engaged in groundbreaking bench-to-bedside research. In the last two decades, Tower has participated in over two hundred clinical trials with thousands of patients and awarded over 2 million dollars to 32 physician scientists pursuing novel hypotheses. While there are many brilliant scientists performing cancer research, Tower recognizes the importance of nurturing the local pool of rich research talent because important breakthroughs have come from unexpected directions and provided new perspectives. The physician scientists who have received Tower's Career Development Grants often demonstrate such promising results that they later obtain large grants from other foundations and cancer research centers. Tower's initial $2 million investment has led to over $30 million in additional clinical research funding. www.towercancer.org