by Cheryl Regan and Alicia Di Rado

National Office Products Industry supporters already have raised $94 million for City of Hope since the group was founded in 1983, but they are not stopping there.

Jay Mutschler addresses members of the National Office Products Industry. (©2011 Karina Pires Photography)

With the support of key industry leaders, the group launched a three-year initiative to urge office products industry members to give generously to a $1 million endowment for City of Hope. Through personal giving, they already have raised $500,000 toward that goal, funding the work of Rama Natarajan, Ph.D., now the National Office Products Industry Professor in Diabetes Research. The effort is timed to commemorate City of Hope’s centennial in 2013.

It also builds on the momentum of the group’s highly successful $9.3 million 2011 fundraising effort. The industry marked the culmination of its fundraising by honoring Staples senior vice president Jay Mutschler at its Spirit of Life® gala in September 2011 in Chicago.

Staples has donated more than $2 million to City of Hope’s education, research and treatment programs since 2009.

“I’m proud to continue Staples’ support for City of Hope, an organization that has been making a difference in the lives of patients everywhere for nearly 100 years,” said Mutschler.

Staples is the national presenting sponsor of both Walk for Hope, a event that raises funds to defeat women’s cancers, and Concert for Hope, an annual music concert that raises money for cancer research, treatment and education at City of Hope.

“We’re grateful for Jay’s 25-year commitment to our National Office Products Industry and its support of our mission to turn scientific discoveries into new therapies,” said Matt Dodd, City of Hope’s senior director of development. “Through the years, he has personally witnessed the medical breakthroughs and discoveries by our researchers. He continues to share our vision of a future without life-threatening diseases like cancer and diabetes.”

Since it was founded in 1983, City of Hope’s National Office Products Industry group has been influential in the development of some of City of Hope’s most important entities, including its Center for Biomedicine & Genetics, which specializes in the production of materials for use in clinical trials and laboratory studies, and most recently the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center for Cancer Immunotherapeutics & Tumor Immunology.

For more information about City of Hope’s National Office Products Industry group, visit www.cityofhope.org/nopi.