The fundraising event was held at Civilian Hotel’s Rosevale Cocktail Room to benefit the Brooklyn Maimonides Cancer Center Patient Care Program in partnership with Rhonda’s Kiss
Rhonda’s Kiss (RhondasKiss.org) is a national non-profit created to help cancer patients in need by donating to the non-medical expenses associated with cancer. The organization is passionate about giving patients and their families a fighting chance to recover. Through fundraising and annual events, the organization has worked to help raise awareness and funding towards cancer programs that are led by forward-thinking doctors at hospitals that support the charity’s overall mission.
The third annual New York fundraiser titled “Kiss for Comedy” was held in midtown at The Civilian Hotel, in the Rosevale Cocktail Room. The evening, centered around a standup comedy show curated by headliner Mike Young, featured a surprise performance by legendary celebrity comedian and actor Michael Rapaport, followed by a performance by American Idol finalist Sam Woolf, plus a comedy set by Jamie Wolf. The evening was emceed by comedian and I Heart Radio host Chanel Omari of “Chanel In The City.”
The charity event was presented by Danny A.Abeckaser (Director/actor/producer), with Rhonda’s Kiss executive director Kyle Stefanski (actor/producer), executive chairman Marc Stefanski and Rabbi Heshy Augenbaum. Additional notables in attendance included comedian Sienna Hubert-Ross, DJ Stevie Guttman, DJ Pookie, Darren Weiss, Lorenzo Antonucci, Eustace Montgomery Hicks, models Maryam Zolghadr, Berit Adelaide and Maya Litovsky, Eyal Baumel. Brianna Calin, patient survivor, was also honored at the event as well as honored chair, Eli Weiss.
Darren Weiss at the Kiss for Comedy Fundraising Event
The impactful evening of compassion and support at the Civilian Hotel and their popular Rosevale Cocktail Room is to raise awareness for Rhonda’s Kiss Cancer Nonprofit and Maimonides Midwood Community Hospital Cancer Center. The Live and Silent auction featured incredible items, such as a Napa Valley Winery weekend escape, dinners at all the top VIP hotspots from TAO to Ambra to Craig’s, and a custom painting by actor Emile Hirsch, a regular supporter of the organization.
Donations are still open, Donate here: 1click2give.org/rk-comedy/
In 2014 Rhonda Stefanski was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer and passed away just a couple of months later. Following her passing, husband Marc Stefanski and his five children wasted little time in their mission to help others and founded “Rhonda’s Kiss.” The family-organized charity continues to celebrate Rhonda’s memory through lifesaving work and giving back to local communities in need. To date the organization, now spearheaded by her son Kyle Stefanski as the Executive Director, has donated over $2 million to support cancer patients.
Rhonda’s Kiss aims to assist in the whole care of a cancer patient, working to ease the insurmountable costs associated with a cancer diagnosis. The organization uses a three-pronged approach, focusing on outreach (education, awareness and screening), navigation (medical and home) and patient services (treatment and financial assistance, and emotional support). In addition, Rhonda’s Kiss’s main efforts focus on assisting with non-medical needs with items such as covering the cost of rent and utilities, wigs, oncology massage, nutrition, exercise, groceries, childcare, household expenses, utilities, rent, mortgage, ambulance transport, and other transportation costs related to treatment, as well as unexpected costs involved in the holistic care of each patient.
Mike Young and Sam Woolf at the Kiss For Comedy Fundraising Event
Through their alignment with Maimonides Cancer Center, Brooklyn’s first accredited cancer center in Brooklyn, they have established the Patient Care Program to support patients that need support with the expenses listed above. This program gives extra support to the patients and their families at Maimonides Cancer Center and Maimonides Midwood Community Hospital, which is part of Maimonides Health, as they battle this horrific disease and deal with the devastating factors that affect their everyday life.
The third annual fashion week fundraising event with a mission to help Cancer patients in need as part of the Cancer Patient Care Program at Maimonides Cancer Center. Rhonda’s Kiss aims to support patients with the non-medical expenses that surmount and are not covered by insurance such as wigs, child care, rent, mortgage, utilities, transportation, groceries, household necessities, ambulance transport, loss of wages, holistic massage and therapy.
Kyle Stefanski Speaking at the Kiss For Comedy Fundraising Event
Commenting on the organization’s work, Kyle Stefanski, Rhonda’s son and Executive Director of Rhonda’s Kiss said, “At Rhonda’s Kiss my father, brothers and sisters and I, along with our board and partners are reminded every day that people struggling with cancer need support to maintain their dignity and fight. We are blessed to have the assistance of our national partners such as Maimonides and supporters to continue to build a legacy of helping others fight this terrible disease through the memory of my mother.”
Principal fundraising for Rhonda’s Kiss takes place through national events and local fundraising. In addition to support by the Marc A. and Rhonda L. Stefanski Foundation, Rhonda’s Kiss is well-known for its annual celebrity fundraising events and concerts. Funds raised are distributed to local hospitals where money is raised.
Rhonda’s Kiss (Registered 501c3) please visit: rhondaskiss.org
For more information on Maimonides Cancer Center please visit:
maimo.org/treatments-care/cancer-center/
The Kiss For Comedy fundraising event will be held in New York at the Civilian Hotel on September 10th, from 6pm-9pm.
Proceeds from Rhonda’s ‘Kiss For Comedy’ fundraiser will support non-medical services at the award-winning Maimonides Cancer Center in Brooklyn. Funding needs include Lymphedema/Compression DMEs, which most insurances do not cover; ambulance transportation for patients who need bed-to-bed transportation as they continue to experience difficulties; and education on how to access telehealth/virtual support groups. Other services that Rhonda’s Kiss will help fund include but are not limited to child care; rent; groceries; transportation; wigs; home health aides; holistic therapy, as well as incontinence supplies, and more.
About Rhonda’s Kiss:
Rhonda’s Kiss (RhondasKiss.org) is a national non-profit created to help cancer patients in need by donating to the non-medical expenses associated with cancer. The organization is passionate about giving patients and their families a fighting chance to recover. Through fundraising and annual events, the organization has worked to help raise awareness and funding towards cancer programs that are led by forward-thinking doctors at hospitals that support the charity’s overall mission. Follow on social media @rhondaskiss.
Sergio Farias, Ali Lasky and Chanel Omari at the Kiss for Comedy Fundraising Event
About Maimonides Health and Maimonides Cancer Center
Maimonides Health is Brooklyn’s largest healthcare system, serving over 320,000 patients each year through the system’s 3 hospitals, 1,800+ physicians and more than 80 community-based practices and outpatient centers. The system is anchored by Maimonides Medical Center, one of the nation’s largest independent teaching hospitals and home to centers of excellence in numerous specialties and Maimonides Midwood Community Hospital (formerly New York Community Hospital), a 130-bed adult medical-surgical hospital; and Maimonides Children’s Hospital, Brooklyn’s only children’s hospital and only pediatric trauma center.
Maimonides’ clinical programs rank among the best in the country for patient outcomes, including its Heart and Vascular Institute, Neurosciences Institute, Bone and Joint Center, and Cancer Center. Maimonides is an affiliate of Northwell Health and a major clinical training site for SUNY Downstate College of Medicine. For additional information, please visit maimo.org and follow us on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok.
Maimonides Cancer Center is recognized for excellence and is the first fully accredited cancer center in Brooklyn. Our comprehensive center is home to New York’s top cancer specialists, with a fully accredited Breast Center, Breast Imaging Center of Excellence and Prostate Center offering the latest minimally invasive approaches such as HIFU. Our patients receive personalized treatment plans from experts who use the most innovative treatment therapies and provide access to clinical trials that advance cancer research and outcomes.
Photo Credit: Jesse Bauer and Lauren Menowitz
