About

Julie was determined to fight this terrible disease, and was constantly on the lookout for the latest research about potential treatments and scientific breakthroughs. She regularly traveled to various scientific and medical conferences in order to have the most up-to-date information possible. These events were instrumental to her maintaining an effective treatment regimen and a high quality of life.

The Julie Ann Carpenter Memorial Fund helps provide resources to women with breast cancer who are also actively searching for the latest treatment options. The fund cannot make donations directly to individuals. Instead, we work with charitable organizations dedicated to educating the breast cancer community about these scientific and medical breakthroughs by conducting or participating in conferences which disseminate this information. A full 98% of the money donated to us is used to fund scholarships and travel stipends. The remaining 2% is retained by the Pasadena Community Foundation, through which the fund’s various accounting and legal requirements are administered.

Since its inception, The Julie Ann Carpenter Memorial Fund has raised over $100,000 to fund these scholarships.

In 2011, we began partnering with Alamo Breast Cancer Foundation (ABCF). Each year since then, we have funded three full scholarships (about $5,000) for the ABCF Advocacy Program, which runs each December. The ABCF brings in patient advocates (usually not medical or scientific professionals) and gives them an intensive three-day instructional seminar in basic scientific and medical research topics occurring at the moment. Immediately afterward, the advocates attend the San Antonia Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), which is primarily for doctors and researchers. Through their prior instruction with ABCF, advocates can better understand the breakthroughs and data coming from the SABCS. The advocates then are expected to share their knowledge by writing topic papers which are collected by ABCF and distributed freely, and participate in other breast community forums and events.