11 Years Later, Gilda's Club Continues to Grow

Every Wednesday evening Robin Poses-Markell takes her place at the front desk of in White Plains.

One of two original founders, Poses-Markell said her time spent at the desk is a chance to watch the program she started continue to work for cancer survivors everywhere. It's the same kind of help that was important to her while she beat cancer herself more than a decade ago.

Gilda's Club is a national organization that offers support groups, social programs and a free place to visit for cancer patients and their families. Poses-Markell co-founded the Westchester branch with Susie Wang, of Rye Brook, in 2001.

"There wasn't really any place that was around like it for emotional and social support," Poses-Markell said. "We needed a place to go where you could be like other people like yourself and you wouldn't be alone."

Poses-Markell and Wang met in the late '90s after both had been diagnosed with cancer. Poses-Markell, who lived in Harrison at the time but has since moved to Rye Brook, said at the time her and Wang found out about Gilda's Club while brainstorming ways to bring together others battling cancer.

"We were both very young at the time and didn't know anybody," she said. "It was a crazy time for us."

After finding the club's first location in White Plains, the two turned to the community for donations. Help began pouring in, and Gilda's Club opened its doors for the first time in 2001. 

Since then, the two have used word-of-mouth to spread awareness of the club, holding golf outings and other fundraisers to keep the program free for anyone who needs it.

Now Gilda's Club offers everything from exercise programs, to knitting classes or just a quite library to sit and read. The program is funded almost entirely by the generosity of local donors.

"The range of programs is so diverse," Poses-Markell said. "There's something there for everybody."

Over the years as the program has grown, Poses-Markell said her weekly visits to Gilda's Club continue to inspire her. Not many people know the person at the front desk helped start the program so many now enjoy, and Poses-Markell said the opportunity to be a "fly on the wall" allows her to watch quietly as the program continues to succeed.

"It's amazing to see people really get what they need there," Poses-Markell said. "You have the opportunity to listen to people and see how it has affected them, I feel very fortunate to be able to do that."

Although Poses-Markell's cancer has been in remission for years now, the disease she defeated remains a big part of her life. Because of all the good that her cancer eventually brought out for other people and in herself, she wouldn't have it any other way.

"I think cancer is forever," she said. "If you allow it to be an experience that changed your life in a positive way, for sure it's forever."