Our beneficiaries this year are Maria Brennan and Cid Richardson, both of Kalamazoo.

Maria is from Dublin, Ireland, and is the owner of the Victorian Bakery in Kalamazoo. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and last year she underwent chemotherapy treatments. Her cancer now is in remission.

Cid has lived in Kalamazoo since high school and is a graduate of Hackett Catholic Central. She has worked for 28 years as a bench jeweler for Thomas Turner in Kalamazoo. She is in the second phase of chemotherapy of chemotherapy for breast cancer, but she says her prognosis is very positive. She said: "I know it sounds strange but my cancer has given me the opportunity to be the recipient of so much love and support from so many people that I feel blessed. ... I believe that attitude is everything, and with family and friends like I have there is now no way but upward from here."