Through the annual Ratopia Surf Classic and generous donations from the community and local businesses, the Ratopia Charity Fund provides funding to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in support of research in the fight against blood related cancers. In August of 2006, Nick Weber accepted the de Villiers Society award in recognition of the Ratopia Charity Fund’s generous donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The de Villiers Society pays tribute to those who waged the first battle against blood-related cancers by honoring individuals and institutions who make substantial gifts to The Society. The Ratopia Charity Fund was very honored to be presented with this prestigious award.

Since its founding in 1949, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has donated more than $360 million toward blood cancer research. For more than 50 years, the Society has been a driving force behind many of the major breakthroughs in cancer treatment, including chemotherapy, bone marrow transplants and, recently, a new oral cancer medication for patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). Research findings sponsored by the Society are used broadly to treat many types of cancers. The Society is the world's largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research, education and patient services.Leukemia & Lymphoma Society sponsored researchers are found all over the world - in 35 states and more than 10 countries.

The Ratopia Charity Fund is proud to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, funding research that has led to increased survival rates for all forms of leukemia, lymphoma and myleoma - some as high as the 93 percent rate for patients under the age of 20 with Hodgkin lymphoma. With Society funded researchers now looking into the efficacy of a vaccine for acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) and the potential to specifically target cancerous stem cells, the battle against blood cancers is moving forward with remarkable bounds.

For more information on the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, please click on the link below.