Meet your Georgia Light The Night Staff



Meet our very own Light The Night Director, Mary Colston. Mary came to LLS out of her love of working in the non-profit sector and has always wanted to work for a cancer-related organization. LLS was especially close to her heart for a few reasons. When she was in high school, her best friend’s mom lost her battle to Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Her sense of humor and courage during her battle is something Mary will never forget. Then a few years later in college, her granddad passed away from Myeloma. Mary says, "I’m excited to say since I’ve started working at LLS, I have many more mission connections that are stories of survival and hope! When I’m not at work, I love spending time with my miniature schnauzer, Bella and my new hubby".

 

 Let's give a big LTN shout out to our very own, Whitney Schaffner, who works as a Senior Campaign Manger! Whitney got involved with LLS as a TNT participant in '08. She fell in love with the program and the difference that LLS was making in so many lives. In 2010, she was looking for a new career path and saw a job opening with LLS on the LTN campaign. She started working with Light The Night that August and says, "It has been such a rewarding and amazing experience". Shortly after she started, her grandfather was diagnosed with CML and this made her even more passionate about our mission and finding a cure. Sadly he lost his battle that December and Whitney completed her third TNT event in his memory in 2011. Whitney says, "It is so exciting to come to work everyday and see how so many people across our state are coming together to help fight blood cancer!"

Please meet our newest addition to the LTN family, Ned Crystal! Ned joined LLS on August 22, 2011. He says, "I came to LLS to fulfill my dream in finding a cure for cancer while affecting patients, survivors and families lives". Ned has multiple mission connections, he is a 2x cancer survivor of Stage III Sarcoma, his ex-father-in-law has CLL and he sadly lost his brother brother-in-law to AML in 2007. Ned realized when he was diagnosed that he was gifted at raising funds for cancer research with his own foundation which he started in 2007. Ned says, "Working for LTN has been a dream come true, the amazing people we interact with from participants, to corporations to our staff. Coming to work is like having won the lottery everyday. Being involved with LLS has allowed me to affect so many more people afflicted with cancer and that is priceless".

I am pleased to introduce you to the amazing Jean Doliber. Jean and her husband Peter have lived in Savannah for 22 years. They have a daughter named Ashley who is a graduate of UGA that lives and works in Washington, D.C. Jean has been involved in working with non-profits for the last 8 years in Savannah. She's been involved in “causes” her entire life because of her desire to make a difference in people’s lives. She came to LLS after working with the Make-A-Wish Foundation for 2 ½ years. Working for LLS provided her with the ability to stay connected with many patients and families that she had met while working with Make-A-Wish. Jean loves that she get to make a difference by helping raise money to find a cure for cancer!

 Please meet the incredibly awesome Kate Sanders who works as a Campaign Manager in Augusta. This summer will mark Kate's 3 year anniversary with the Society! She became involved with LLS in 2009 when her grandfather was diagnosed with CLL. Kate had a friend who worked with LLS and she was one of the first people she called for information. Kate says, "Working with LLS means that I now have hundreds of mission connections…but my first two connections were my grandfather and my great aunt Patricia, who died of leukemia at 21 years old in the 1950's. Her truly heartbreaking and remarkable story reminds me every day that what we are doing is changing millions of lives not only now, but for decades and centuries to come".


When she isn't working, she enjoys kickboxing, wakeboarding, the Allman Brothers, art museums, and traveling to visit friends. Did I mention that she has her own Friends & Family team in Augusta called The Rambling Wrecks (named after her grandfather) and they have raised over $20,000 for LLS since joining Light The Night in 2009!

I am pleased to introduce you to the fabulous Tracy Manning. Tracy joined LLS in 2006 in Tampa, Florida. Tracy participated in Team In Training for the Nike Women’s Half marathon in San Francisco and raised funds for LLS. Never having fund raised before (or run that distance) she surprised herself by raising over $10,000(and completed the race under 2 hours)!!! The experience with TNT was such a great one- that she inquired about a job with LLS. And so it happened- she was hired as Special Events Director overseeing Light The Night walks, Man & Woman of the Year and Leukemia Cup Regatta for the Tampa Suncoast Chapter. In 2008 she and her husband, Ed, welcomed their son Daulton and moved to the Atlanta area. Tracy then became part of the Atlanta LLS Chapter and now works on Light The Night and Man & Woman of the Year. Tracy has since done two more TNT events- running Nike again and also doing the inaugural Rock & Roll in Savannah.

You MUST meet the amazing Lauraine Frank!!! Lauraine first learned about The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society when she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 2006 while attending college. At the time, she was a Marketing major unsure of her future plans. Once she achieved remission, Lauraine immediately knew she wanted to give back to the organization that had helped her so tremendously through her cancer battle. She began an internship in the Special Events department directly after graduating, and has since become a full time employee with Light The Night since 2009. Lauraine has her own Light The Night team of friends and family, Lauraine’s Lifesavers, that has raised almost $10,000 in the past two years! The gratification of joining LLS’s mission to cure blood cancers, and hearing our volunteers’ inspirational stories on a daily basis, is what keeps Lauraine smiling every single day.

Are you ready to meet your final LTN staffer? Well, it's me! It is my pleasure to say that I have been with LLS since June of 2010. While I never envisioned working in non-profit, I can honestly say this is my calling and can not imagine being anywhere else. I started out temporary as a recruiter and was welcomed to the LTN team full time in December of 2010. I did my first endurance event with Team In Training in February of 2011 and proudly completed the Disney Half Princess in honor of the patients and survivors I have met since beginning my journey with LLS. In 2011, I captained our LLS Greene Team and aided in raising over $17,000 for LLS with the help of my friends, family and co-workers. Working for the Society has touched me inside and out and opened my eyes to life’s possibilities…so happy to be where I am!