Gilda's Club

Local chapters provide meeting places where those who have cancer, their families, and friends can join with others to build emotional and social support as a supplement to medical care.

Free of charge and nonprofit, Gilda's Club chapters offer support and networking groups, lectures, workshops and social events in a nonresidential, homelike setting.

The club was named in honor of the original Saturday Night Live cast member Gilda Radner, who died of ovarian cancer in 1989.

[2] She became the executive director of the first club opened in New York City in 1995, after a long fundraising campaign that included movie trailers featuring Wilder in theaters around the country who acted as the celebrity spokesman.

These specific criteria includes: accessibility- each club must be near public transportation and have easy highway access, generate $1 million in fundraising prior to opening, and adhere to approved wellness therapies.

[17] In 2019, due to financial struggles, The Lake House, a non-profit organization for cancer support, merged with Gilda's Club Detroit.

[20] In 1996, former Northwestern University president Leontine Chuang and Princess Diana attended a lunch with various members of Gilda’s Club Chicago.

[21] Princess Diana’s visit in 1996 helped bring awareness to Annie Lurie allowing for Gilda’s Club Chicago to become what it is today.

[27] Gilda’s Club Chicago hosts a yearly teen essay contest that aims to help high school students who are battling cancer or have a connection to it.

[29] The event features a live and silent auction for crafted bras that are also worn by breast cancer survivors in a runway fashion show.

[34] In honor of Gilda’s Club Chicago's 20th anniversary, they held a party and awards dinner to celebrate serving more than 45,000 people and raising over $25 million.