Our story
Did you know that Reach for Recovery has been active in South Africa since 1967?
We have supported South African breast cancer patients for almost 60 years! RFR was founded by Terese Lasser, an American breast cancer survivor. Read more about her breast cancer journey below.
“You begin to bloom when you help those around you grow.”
About
Our story
“You begin to bloom when you help those around you grow.”
Did you know that Reach for Recovery has been active in South Africa since 1967?
We have supported South African breast cancer patients for almost 60 years! RFR was founded by Terese Lasser, an American breast cancer survivor. Read more about her breast cancer journey below.
A vision to support women with breast cancer
Let’s travel back to New York in the 1950s.
After a breast cancer battle and a mastectomy, American author Terese Lasser came to a realisation. Survivors who had been through diagnosis and treatment could offer valuable peer support to newly-diagnosed patients facing the same experience.
Terese founded Reach to Recovery in the United States in 1953, gathering volunteers to spread a message of hope. She launched Reach for Recovery (with the preposition altered from ‘to’ and becoming ‘for’) in South Africa after she visited Johannesburg and Cape Town fourteen years later.
From humble beginnings, we have grown into a robust and highly regarded organisation which has helped thousands of women regain their lives after breast cancer, and redefine their lives because of it. We maintain a close link with Reach to Recovery International.
You can read more about Terese Lasser here.
“A simple yet
universal principle”
our vision
Our vision is based on a simple yet universal principle: individuals who have experienced breast cancer freely give their time and experience to assist and support others diagnosed with the disease. Currently, we have 225 volunteers doing just that!
our mission
Our mission is to provide practical support and emotional grounding
to all breast cancer patients in South Africa. Our focus area is post-diagnosis services that support women through treatment and toward survivorship.
emotional support
When a person first finds out they have breast cancer, they may feel overwhelmed, vulnerable, and alone. Our survivors offer compassion and empathy.
practical support
While under this stress, they must also learn about complex medical treatments and choose the one that’s right for them.
We do not offer medical opinions, but talking to a specially-trained Reach for Recovery volunteer provides comfort and inspiration. It makes patients feel less alone in their journey.
The Reach for Recovery
C.A.R.E Manifesto
Reach for Recovery’s volunteer infrastructure sustains the activities of our organisation and has done so for 57 years. Our goal is to make this infrastructure more robust so as to ensure our growth and progress as a breast cancer support organisation.
To this end, we have established our C.A.R.E Manifesto:
C: for Championing
A: for Awareness
R: for Recruitment
E: for Equipment
To close the care gap, as per the World Cancer Organisation’s own mandate, we must C.A.R.E!!
We ask that our existing volunteers and members of the public take up this manifesto.
Share your ideas, your activities, recruit actively for more volunteers to join us, host activities for fundraising and to spread awareness around breast cancer in your community, as you have all done these past 50+ years. We’ve got this, together!
Our logo
Our logo represents a flower bud embracing a human figure reaching up in triumph. It was designed in 2014 by Gregory Leigh Booysen, then a student at AAA School of Advertising:
”The origins of the idea for the logo came about when researching the anatomical design of a breast. Coincidentally the mammary glands, when turned on its site, resemble foliage. This is a powerful and beautiful metaphor which communicates growth, resilience and life.”
Today Gregory is Creative Group Head and Senior Art Director at Accenture Song, a leading design agency based in Cape Town:
It’s based on the dictionary meaning, “the same thing, again”.
Ditto Campaign Concept
Chen says, “I felt this was appropriate as surely the patients who are to receive their prosthesis would like to have something as close to the real thing as possible, hence the word ditto. The connected letters ‘T’ and ‘O’ of the word ditto create a completely symmetrical representation of a woman’s chest area, reinforcing the idea of having a full chest again, just as before.”
Our reach
Reach for Recovery is affiliated to Reach to Recovery International (RRI), a comprehensive non-medical programme created to help women with breast cancer.
Our work is approved and endorsed by the medical profession and cancer societies worldwide.
We are registered as a Public Benefit Organisation (P.B.O No 930 011 568) and as a Non-Profit Organisation (N.P.O. 043-723-NPO)
How you can help
RFR is largely(over 90%) volunteer-based. We need financial support to pay for our volunteers:
Play your part and donate today.