Chords2Cure Club Rocks the Alley

On November 15, the Alley echoed with the sounds of talented student musicians playing and singing in support of an important cause. The concert was a fundraiser for Chords2Cure (C2C), an organization founded by Crossroads students and families to raise money for pediatric cancer research and clinical trials. 

 

The C2C project began in 2015 when Crossroads students Jaxon Blumenthal ’21 and Mafalda von Alvensleben ’18 met and discovered they had some things in common. Both were cancer patients—Jaxon was recovering from treatment for liver cancer and Mafalda was heading into treatment for bone cancer—and they shared an amazing oncologist at UCLA, Dr. Noah Federman. They quickly realized they also shared a love of music. That passion sparked the creation of C2C, which started as a benefit concert to support pediatric cancer research and has grown into a student-centered organization that has contributed nearly $1,000,000 to Dr. Federman's research on pediatric cancer at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. 

 

C2C has a continuing presence at Crossroads through the Chords2Cure Club. Led by senior Mila Levit and junior Ruby Block, the club brings students together to support C2C’s mission. “I’ve seen firsthand the impact of pediatric cancer on a family,” says Mila, a good friend of Jaxon and his sister, Calli Blumenthal ’22. “What C2C does is so important because only a tiny fraction of government funding for cancer research goes to pediatric cancer studies.” The 20 or so club members are a mix of musicians, organizers and cancer survivors. They focus on raising awareness of the lack of funding for pediatric cancer research and raising money by holding bake sales and selling C2C hats and other merchandise. “We had a great response to the event,” said Mila, “and we hope to do other on-campus shows as well as support and publicize C2C’s major fundraising concert in the spring of 2023.”

For more information about Chords2Cure, visit www.chords2cure.org.