Cookin’ Up a Cure: A Gourmet Chefs Tasting Benefiting Pancreatic Cancer

On Monday, May 24 at 6:30pm the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network will hold its third annual Cookin' Up A Cure fundraiser in the Allen Room at the Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center. The festive evening will include cocktails and a gourmet chefs tasting from renowned New York City restaurants such as Aureole, China Grill, David Burke's Fishtail and Mercadito. The benefit will feature a silent and live auction with opportunities to win items such as a private plane ride to the Hamptons for lunch, a weekend at Canyon Ranch Spa in Miami, a private lunch for five with American icon and designer Tommy Hilfiger and an opportunity for four people to attend a closed set taping of the hit show "Mad Money with Jim Cramer" which airs on MSNBC.The evening will also feature a tribute to Don Hewitt, broadcast pioneer and creator of CBS's "60 Minutes"; Hewitt died of pancreatic cancer in August 2009. Tickets for Cookin' Up A Cure can be purchased for $125 at www.pancan.org/cookinupacure. Tickets will not be sold at the door. 95 percent of the funds raised at the event are dedicated to advancing research, supporting patients and creating hope for those affected by pancreatic cancer. Since 1975 the survival rate for Pancreatic Cancer has only improved 2%--from 3% to 5%; a staggering 66% of patients die within the first year of diagnosis and 95% die within 5 years of diagnosis. Despite these sobering statistics, less than 2 percent of the National Cancer Institute's federal research funding is currently allocated to pancreatic cancer.