Kaile Zagger has spent her professional career in healthcare. She has private insurance.
But after the Westport mom underwent a bilateral mastectomy last January, she was astonished to discover the many non-reimbursable costs that piled up..
And she was stunned to learn how many women without her resources — single moms, those working and living paycheck to paycheck, women lacking the time or ability to find help — are forced to choose between treatment, and paying for food, rent and utilities.
Pink Aid — the national non-profit founded 16 years ago in Westport, which provides compassionate support and rapid emergency financial assistance to patients in treatment — was a lifeline.
Kaile found a peer-to-peer mentor in Courtney Prussin, a local mom who had undergone a similar journey.
Kaile Zagger and Courtney Prussin.
Fortunately, Kaile did not need Pink Aid’s financial help. But, she wondered, what about the 180,000 women each year who do?
Pink Aid has provided $16 million in funds since 2011. Still, the organization cannot come close to funding every request.
Yet.
Kaile — and a group of determined, whip-smart, and very well-connected women — are on a mission to make that happen.
The vehicle is the Visionary Circle. Just 3 month old, its goal is audacious: to fund every woman’s needs, including utilities, phone and cable, transportation to and from hospital visits and treatment centers, car loan and insurance premiums, and much more. Grants are usually provided within 48 hours.
Then again, these are very audacious women.
“Lots of groups spend money on research grants, and those are so important,” says Courtney. “But it’s just as important to help get these women, and their families, through such a traumatic time in their lives.”
Kaile knows her way around corporate America. She also knows there are many women who have been touched by breast cancer, or knows others who were.
If they knew about Pink Aid, she thought, they could leverage their power and resources to help raise the money that would serve every woman in need.
This summer, the Visionary Circle was born. It consists of nearly 2 dozen women, in prominent positions in finance, law, business and other fields, in New York, Chicago, California and beyond.
The women meet monthly. Each is reaching out into her own circles. Soon, they hope to have contacts — and receive large donations — from the 100 top American companies.
One early call was typical. A woman who runs a billion-dollar firm, and whose own family has been touched by cancer. said, “I had no idea this number of women are suffering.”
She signed on immediately.
The timeline is “as fast as possible,” Kaile says. “The woman in the Visionary Circle know how to make a difference.”
There are many ways to help, she adds. Executives can join the Visionary Circle.
In addition, peer mentors are always needed. So are donations. For more information, click here. To contact Kaile directly, email kailezagger@outlook.com.
From left: Pink Aid founders Amy Gross, Amy Katz, Renee Mandis and Andrew Mitchell-Namdar at their gala and fashion show. Mitchells of Westport has been a longtime sponsor of Pink Aid.
