More than 50,000 people are expected to converge on Central Park this month for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk, a fundraiser now entering its 33rd year in New York City. The event is set for the Central Park Bandshell, between West 67th Street and Central Park West in Manhattan, where organizers say the gathering ranks among the largest of its kind in the country.
A report by amNewYork says roughly 50,000 people attend the walk each year. Kendall Padovani, an associate director overseeing the Central Park event, described it as the second-largest Making Strides walk in the country. The American Cancer Society is holding nearly 150 similar walks nationwide this year, according to the report.
A recent report lists this year's Central Park walk for Oct. 18. Attendees should confirm event details directly with organizers before traveling.
Money Raised Goes Toward Research, Rides and Lodging
The Central Park event's fundraising goal is roughly $2 million; more than $600,000 had been raised as of publication, amNewYork reported. Padovani said proceeds support American Cancer Society grants and researchers, as well as services such as transportation and lodging for people receiving treatment.
Those services include Road to Recovery, which provides free rides to cancer-related medical appointments, and the New York City Hope Lodge on West 32nd Street, which offers lodging for patients and caregivers during treatment, amNewYork reported. The American Cancer Society also works with New York City hospital systems as part of its patient-support network.
Sponsors, Screenings and a Previvor Tent
The report lists NYC Health + Hospitals, Pfizer, Northwell Cancer Institute, Steve Madden and the Zeta Tau Alpha fraternity as this year's flagship sponsors. Breast cancer screening information and resources will also be available at the Central Park event.
The program will include a new previvor tent with educational resources, a DJ at the Bandshell, a colorwall and other sponsor activities, according to the report. Padovani said the event welcomes survivors and remembers people lost to breast cancer. “Cancer doesn’t discriminate based on age, gender or where you come from,” she said, citing a 1-in-8 lifetime breast cancer risk for women.
A Year-Round Effort Behind a Single Day
The annual walk brings community and corporate supporters together, Padovani said. Organizing the New York event takes about a year, and planning for 2027 is expected to begin soon after this year's walk, according to the report.
The scale of New York's walk fits into a larger national pattern. A 2021 series of Tri-State Making Strides events drew nearly 80,000 walkers and was projected to raise close to $3 million, according to ABC7 New York. Making Strides Against Breast Cancer began in Boston in 1993 and has since grown to roughly 150 walks across the country, with individual routes typically ranging from 2.5 to 5 miles depending on location, according to the American Cancer Society.
Why the Timing Matters
The walk arrives as breast cancer incidence continues to climb nationally. The American Cancer Society estimates that breast cancer incidence rates have risen about 1% per year in recent years, with a steeper 1.4% annual increase among women younger than 50, according to the organization's cancer statistics page. The group projects that 321,910 women in the United States will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in 2026, and that 42,140 women will die from the disease, according to the American Cancer Society's pressroom.
Despite rising diagnoses, the organization also reports that death rates have declined 44% overall from 1989 through 2023, and that Black women continue to have the highest breast cancer death rate among the racial and ethnic groups it tracks. The American Cancer Society estimates more than 30% of breast cancers may be preventable through healthy behaviors such as regular exercise, maintaining a healthy weight, avoiding alcohol and tobacco, and breastfeeding, per its pressroom release.
What New York's Latest Data Cover
The verified state data cited here do not provide a borough-by-borough or racial and ethnic comparison. The New York State Department of Health says 2023 is the most recent year for which statewide data on new cancer cases and deaths are available.
