A Little Easier Recovery Awarded Three Grants at MassChallenge 2013 Awards Ceremony

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A Little Easier Recovery Awarded Three Grants at MassChallenge 2013 Awards Ceremony, Totaling $75,000

Non-Profit Helping People with Breast Cancer is Named MassChallenge $50,000 Gold Winner and is Awarded Two Additional Sidecar Prizes

NORTH ANDOVER, MA (November 6, 2013)- A Little Easier Recovery, a non-profit providing free educational tools and essential post-surgical garments for people with breast cancer, was named a $50,000 Gold Winner by MassChallenge, in addition to receiving the $10,000 John W. Henry Family Foundation Prize for Social Impact and the $15,000 Perkins School for the Blind Assistive Technology Prize.

A Little Easier Recovery was founded by Cathy McGrath, a breast cancer survivor. Cathy created the Jacki® to assist women going through breast cancer treatment and recovery. Founder Cathy McGrath and Program Director Maureen Cardinal are both Salem State graduates. Today, oncology staff distributes the Jacki free to breast cancer patients during one-on-one care planning at 81 hospitals in 20 states including Alaska. A Little Easier Recovery has helped over 12,000 breast cancer patients to date with their Jacki program and thanks to MassChallenge, they plan to help thousands more.

“The tremendous support from MassChallenge, the John W. Henry Foundation and Perkins School for the Blind Assistive Technology enables us to now help thousands more patients through our proven program,” said Maureen Cardinal, Program Director.

In April 2010, John Harthorne and Akhil Nigam launched MassChallenge, an organization that helps startups in Massachusetts through an annual competition. Winners of the competition receive a cash prize to help further their business ventures in addition to mentorship from top executives. The John W. Henry Family Foundation Prize for Social Impact and the Perkins School for the Blind Assistive Technology Prize served as Side-car Prizes to provide additional grants to MassChallenge participants.

Karl Büttner, MassChallenge Chief Mentorship Officer stated "A Little Easier Recovery is already making an enormous impact on the lives of breast cancer patients. The commitment of their entire team is an inspiration. The world needs more companies like A Little Easier Recovery, and MassChallenge feels extremely fortunate to know and support them in their efforts."

“We are so thankful to be part of the MassChallenge accelerator program, and are honored to now be part of the MassChallenge alumni community. We extend our sincerest thanks to all the mentors and advisors for their knowledge and expertise in helping us grow our social impact,” said Danielle Flynn, Marketing Manager and Grant Writer.

LINKS:

For more information on A Little Easier Recovery, please visit: http://alittleeasierrecovery.org

For more information on MassChallenge, please visit: http://www.masschallenge.org

ABOUT A LITTLE EASIER RECOVERY:

The mission of A Little Easier Recovery is to empower cancer patients to regain their dignity and control and lead a better quality of life through all phases of  their cancer treatment and recovery with established free educational programs. The A Little Easier Recovery Initiative addresses a crucial unmet need and teaches how to hold onto normal, how to navigate through the physical and emotional maze of cancer, to do more, to be empowered, and to find their strength and power to fight an unfair fight.

A Little Easier Recovery is a 501(c)3 non-profit that donates the Jacki, an essential post-surgical recovery garment and free educational tools to hospitals throughout the US. Currently, A Little Easier Recovery’s programs are distributed at 81 hospitals by oncology staff directly to the patient. 

CONTACT:

Danielle Flynn                                            info@alittleeasierrecovery.org

(978)-689-9326