I am writing to recognize and thank the Cornell community for its extraordinary support of the Cancer Resource Center of the Finger Lakes.

The Cancer Resource Center, founded in 1994, provides assistance to individuals affected by cancer who live in and around Tompkins County.

We provide 16 monthly support and networking groups and one-to-one assistance at our office and at Cayuga Medical Center to help people navigate cancer and its treatment. We listen without judgment and create community for those who have been affected by cancer. Our motto captures our philosophy: No one should face cancer alone.

I'm proudest of meeting emerging needs in our community. That's when Cornell so often steps up.

Some of our clients go to Weill Cornell Medical College or Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City for consultations and/or treatment. Last year, we approached the Cornell transportation office about letting cancer patients travel for free on the campus-to-campus bus if empty seats were available. The okay was given to test the program, and it has proven to be so successful that it has been implemented on an ongoing basis. One woman recently told me, "Getting the ride on that bus was the first good thing to happen to me since I was diagnosed."

It's worth noting that many of the cancer patients who have traveled on the bus are Cornell employees and their loved ones.

On a different front, I received two calls in the space of a week from individuals who wanted to connect to the Internet to help pass the time while recovering from extensive cancer treatment. I put out a plea for assistance, and the Day Hall tech services donated three reconditioned laptops that are now provided to our clients on long-term loan.

We've had numerous classes use the Cancer Resource Center as a fieldwork site. For example, the Landscape Architecture Program is helping us create a healing garden in our backyard.

And Cornell students routinely come to us as volunteers and interns. They range from first-year students helping with our annual walkathon and 5K run to MBA students (through the Johnson Board Fellows program) assisting us with strategic planning and other board-level functions.

Since we don't charge for our services, we're constantly raising funds, and several Cornell student groups have helped immensely. Just recently, the Student-Athlete Advisory Council raised more than $2,000 for us by organizing "Bench Press for a Cure."

A few months earlier, the women's basketball team and volleyball team held fundraisers for us. And the Omega Tau Sigma Professional Veterinary Fraternity donated the proceeds from its Misster Cornell Pageant to support our work.

Many Cornell employees volunteer their time and expertise with us. Several members of our current board of directors -- Hal Craft, Steve Novakovic, Eileen McCoy Whang, Linda Falkson, Alison Smith and Dalva Hedlund -- have Cornell connections.

And, as long as this list of collaborations is getting, I'm only writing about this year. We've been serving Tompkins County for 18 years, and we couldn't do what we do without the involvement of Cornell.

Our work is such that we can't always "fix" the serious problems that we encounter, but we strive to make life at least a little better for everyone we serve. Cornell contributes so much and in so many ways to make that possible. Thank you for being part of our community.

Bob Riter is the executive director of the Cancer Resource Center of the Finger Lakes.