The St. Andrews Chapter was founded by Elayne Blackman 13 years ago after she received treatment for oral cancer from Dr. Jarred Goodwin at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. During her one-year check-up, Barbara Pessel (our Sylvester physician liaison ), asked Elayne if she would be interested in starting a Pap Corps Chapter in St. Andrews Country Club, Boca Raton. Having survived two types of cancer (first breast cancer treated in New York, then oral cancer treated at Sylvester), Elayne wanted to turn lemons into lemonade and she felt this was a great opportunity to do just that. Knowing first hand the importance of having access to excellent doctors, she agreed to open the Chapter. After an initial meeting at her house with all the members from the Board of Directors, the St. Andrews Chapter was formed. She became the first President, and her good friend Wendy Salomon decided to join as Vice President and Treasurer.

The St. Andrews Chapter became a very successful fundraising Chapter that held numerous events throughout the year including silent auctions, luncheons, and casino nights. Since Elayne had experience in the world of Art from having worked as a docent at the Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Arts for 5 years, she organized bus tours to private art collections in Miami and Palm Beach. All of these were very successful fundraising events that contributed greatly to cancer research.

Four years later another resident from the St. Andrews community, Ally Kroner, had a brother diagnosed with cancer. Elayne connected her with Sylvester where the cancer was successfully treated. Ally was so thankful for this that she decided to become a volunteer, and Elayne offered her the position of President, which she held for 4 years, including Janyce Speier as Vice President. The two of them organized the whole Chapter, and helped Elayne expand the luncheons and other activities by forming a new journal ad book, and including sponsorships on all the invitations. Today Elayne is back at the President seat, and Wendy remains as Vice President and Treasurer. Both working hard to come up with innovative ways of continuing to raise funds through these difficult times of Covid 19.