SAN FRANCISCO, CA – April 3, 2017 – (HISPANICIZE WIRE) – The week of March 24-31, 2017 marks the 18th Annual National Farmworker Awareness Week. It is also the kick-off to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s 27th annual Man & Woman of the Year (MWOY LLS) campaign. Victoria Sanchez De Alba, local businesswoman and candidate for San Francisco’s 2017 Woman of the Year, will be highlighting these environmental and health concerns while raising money for cancer research through her groundbreaking candidate campaign, Por Vida Juntos We Can Beat Cancer. Together with her team she is embarking on a 10-week mission to raise awareness and fund a cancer research grant.
“Many people do not realize that people who are exposed to pesticides while working in agricultural fields are at a higher risk of getting cancer1. My mission is to honor my father, Sebastian Sanchez, who worked in the Salinas Valley agricultural fields and who we lost to non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2002,” said Sanchez De Alba. “I want to raise awareness about the serious health risks facing all farmworkers, and to help put an end to cancers that are shortening the lives of the hard-working people who put food on our tables.”
According to LLS, blood cancers are the 3rd largest cause of cancer-related deaths in the U.S. and the largest type of pediatric cancer. Every three minutes, someone is diagnosed with blood cancer, and every nine minutes someone dies from a blood cancer. Born in El Centro, CA and raised in Salinas, Sanchez De Alba worked in the fields as a young girl until graduating from high school, harvesting produce and fruit during her summer vacations. There she experienced firsthand how farmworkers were, and still are, impacted by pesticides. This includes a day when Sanchez De Alba and other workers were sprayed while working in the fields. She thought it was starting to sprinkle rain, but looked up to see a small plane overhead spraying pesticides.
“I am very proud to be involved with the 2017 Man & Woman of the Year campaign for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. LLS is the leading source of free, specialized blood cancer information, education, and support for patients, survivors, families, and healthcare professionals,” said Sanchez De Alba. “In particular, this organization provides assistance to those who find it difficult to afford drug co-pays or health insurance premiums. All communities – mine, yours, Latino communities, and farmworker communities, need to be made aware of the cancer risks associated with pesticides.”
Sanchez De Alba’s campaign goal is to raise $50,000 by June 3, 2017. That total is the cost of funding a research lab for one year. The funds raised will be earmarked for research to benefit non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer that is associated with pesticide exposure. 2,3
“Por Vida Juntos We Can Beat Cancer is the first campaign by a Man & Woman of the Year candidate in the San Francisco Bay Area to put the spotlight specifically on farmworkers and pesticide-related cancers. Working together, and through donations from people and institutions from across the nation and all walks of life, we can beat blood cancers,” said Sanchez De Alba.
This year’s LLS MWOY candidates also honor the lives of two local blood cancer survivors who are now cancer-free, Nomi (13) & James (17). These children are alive and living their dreams because of the research funded by LLS – research that isn’t possible without donations. To donate to this year’s worthy campaign, please go to: http://bit.ly/vsda2017. To learn more about LLS, please visit: www.lls.org.
1: United Farm Workers: http://bit.ly/1RszxFS
2: Annual Review of Public Health: http://bit.ly/2npZy2o
3. Agricultural Pesticides Linked to Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma by Dr. Mercola: http://bit.ly/2nuxs2F
About Victoria Sanchez De Alba, 2017 Woman of the Year for LLS:
Victoria Sanchez De Alba is president and owner of De Alba Communications, a well-respected multicultural media and public relations consultancy firm. Her agency provides communications consultation to a wide range of industries and service areas, raising public awareness through strategic media outreach. Clients include: Fortune 500 corporations, nonprofit organizations, political campaigns, businesses in the health, education, real estate, technology industries, and leading Bay Area museums and cultural/historical institutions.
Prior to establishing her firm, Sanchez De Alba worked in television journalism and investigative reporting for the Center for Investigative Reporting, Inc., (CIR) San Francisco, where she was part of a national Emmy award-winning team, as well as ABC/7 KGO TV, San Francisco, and CBS KOVR TV-13, Sacramento.
Sanchez De Alba is passionate about helping create a more socially responsible world, and has a proven record for creating public relations campaigns that reach a number of diverse audiences. For more information, please visit www.dealba.net.