After 25 years and millions of fundraising dollars, QVC Presents “FFANY Shoes on Sale” continues to inspire the footwear industry to lend its support to breast cancer awareness and research.
This year, Anne Fisher has been named the recipient of FFANY’s Jodi & Jerome Fisher Humanitarian Award for her founding support of the annual fundraiser. As wife to the late Jerome Fisher and stepmother to his daughter, Jodi, she worked alongside the two to help turn the event into a cornerstone of the shoe industry.
“To receive the award named after those I love in my family is especially poignant,” said Fisher. “Carrying on Jerome and Jodi’s legacy through this endeavor makes our family feel like we’ve made a contribution in fi nding a cure for breast cancer.”
Fisher recalled the event’s early days, when a tent was set up in New York’s Central Park, giving shoppers an opportunity to snag a shoe deal while supporting breast cancer awareness. “To get the donation process started, Jerome said he’d donate shoes. Then Jodi reached out to FFANY and its former president, Dick Jacobson, making a powerful connection that helped the idea become a reality,” she said.
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Over the years, the event has garnered increasing support from the footwear community as well as consumers across the country. “Having QVC join the cause in the second year expanded the outreach beyond the tent and helped take the idea beyond our [imagination],” said Fisher.
Since its founding in 1993, Shoes on Sale has sold more than 2 million pairs and distributed in excess of $55 million to provide “first-step” funding for research on breast cancer treatments. “This is important work, giving scientists the funding needed at the spark of an idea,” said Fisher. “These 25 years have brought about advancements that save lives now and for future generations.”
Following the untimely death of Jodi Fisher to leukemia in 2009, and having lost her husband in 2016, Anne Fisher said that celebrating the silver anniversary of Shoes on Sale is somewhat bittersweet. But she remains optimistic that their efforts — and those of others in the shoe industry — will have a lasting impact.
“My hope is that, ultimately, we will find a cure that will eradicate this dreadful disease and that the legacy of Jerome, Jodi and the Fisher family will always be linked to bringing about lifesaving work for this cause,” said Fisher. She noted that the Fisher family will be committed to the cause for many years to come.
“I look at Marc Fisher — Jerome’s son and Jodi’s brother, and founder and CEO of Marc Fisher Footwear — and he’s leading the way in the family’s legacy,” she said. “I also look at Jodi’s daughters and my grandchildren: They will be the next generation to push the envelope and fight for a cause they believe in. They will rally the shoe industry. In today’s society, with technology a focus in everyone’s lives, we also need to remember the human side.”
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