“We established this organization one year ago because we wanted the money that we raised for cancer to stay in Sussex County and help people here who need help,” said Neal Kubala, one of the organizers.

Approximately 30 people attending a recent event to mark the organization’s one-year anniversary.

The Patient Special Needs Fund assists individual patients with limited financial resources who need help in covering emergent expenses such as prescriptions or co-pays for medications; medical supplies, such as wigs and mastectomy prosthesis; nutrition; essential living expenses; and transportation. This past year, $25,000 of the fund helped 30 local patients.

The Sussex County Cancer Survivors’ Fund is a nonprofit, fundraising organization with proceeds benefiting the Tunnell Cancer Center’s Patient Special Needs Fund. Organizers include Kubala and his wife Bevann Kubala, Frank Shade, Kenny and Suzette Hopkins, Betty Streett, Jackie Sopa, Annie Larson and George O’Shea.