The Gathering Place to celebrate 25 years of serving cancer community - Cleveland Jewish News

Cleveland Jewish News - written by Jimmy Oswald.

Posted March 26, 2026.

Michele Seyranian, CEO of The Gathering Place, said the Beachwood-based nonprofit, which provides support groups, services and wellness programs for individuals and families coping with cancer, is “fortunate” to have strong staff and volunteer support.

“We have that volunteer support on all levels,” Seyranian told the Cleveland Jewish News. “When you walk through the door, it’s a volunteer who greets you. We could not do what we do without our volunteers, our board of trustees and our staff. They are so well-trained, compassionate and willing to go above and beyond. All of them come together to help us be the organization we are today. You need every piece of the puzzle for it all to work well.”

The Gathering Place will recognize its staff and support teams, and celebrate its 25th anniversary with a gala on April 18 at the InterContinental Hotel Cleveland at 9801 Carnegie Ave.

Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres will begin at 6 p.m. followed by dinner at 7, the main program and live auction at 7:45 and the after-party at 8:30.

Six individuals will be honored for their leadership and commitment to the cancer community, which reflects the organization’s mission, according to The Gathering Place. Honorees are Karen Lipman Steiger, Lauren Rich Fine, Stacie Halpern, Lauren Spilman, Mary Fisher Bornstein and Eileen Coan.

Lipman Steiger, a congregant of B’nai Jeshurun Congregation in Pepper Pike who previously served as director of Jewish Volunteer Network and coordinator of the chaplaincy program at the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, serves as secretary of the board of trustees of The Gathering Place. She began volunteering in 2018 and welcomes people into the building on Monday mornings. Her mother, Sandra Lipman, died from lymphoma and was an original supporter of the organization.

Lipman Steiger’s donations helped establish the HOPE Mobile Unit, a vehicle that provides free cancer support services, including counseling, wig fittings and educational materials, directly to neighborhoods. She most recently championed the development of the new fitness center at the Beachwood location.

“I’m honored to be honored,” Lipman Steiger told the CJN. “One of the things The Gathering Place does so well is keeping their finger on the pulse of what’s happening. They know the trends in our community and across the country. We’re seeing an increase in young adult cancer, and we want to make sure we can meet the needs of this community. One of the exciting things about the gala is it’s an opportunity to raise the funds to meet those needs.”

Rich Fine, who is partner at Beatrice Advisors, played a meaningful role in supporting and updating “Someone I Love is Sick: Helping Very Young Children Cope with Cancer in the Family,” a customizable book that helps guide conversations with children age 2 to 6 when a parent or grandparent is facing cancer. It addresses every stage of the journey in a gentle manner – from diagnosis and treatment to hospitalization, recurrence, and end of life – offering comfort, clarity and language during difficult moments.

“I’m very humbled to be honored,” Rich Fine told the CJN. “I can’t say enough good things about what The Gathering Place does – the services it provides and the fact that it’s free and all encompassing. “It’s for the people who’ve been diagnosed with cancer as well as their families, and it’s really trying to appeal to every aspect of the type of care that they might need, from research to exercise to the right food to babysitting and everything else. When I heard about Michele’s strategy to go into the community, I thought it was fabulous and reached into my wallet again.”

Halpern, principal designer at Kingdom Home Builders in Solon, was an early supporter of The Gathering Place and helped carry forward the philanthropic legacy of her parents, whose name graces The Gathering Place’s Beachwood campus, The Arnold & Sydell Miller Family Campus, according to the organization. Her passion has especially shown in supporting the organization’s annual children’ summer camp, where children impacted by cancer spend their days caring for kittens and puppies, grooming horses and finding ways to have fun and escape in an environment created just for them.

“It’s an honor,” Halpern, a congregant of Park Synagogue in Pepper Pike, told the CJN. “The Gathering Place is such a special place, and it survives on donations. They utilize their dollars very well, so somebody donating should know they do a very good job with their funds. It’s amazing that there’s an east and west side location, and they’ve added the HOPE Mobile Unit that goes into the inner city, places where people can’t necessarily make it to a location. That has really extended their reach.”

Spilman, Halpern’s sister who is also a congregant of Park Synagogue, was also involved in the early beginnings of the organization and has helped build up the animal day camp program. Through her generosity, children navigating the uncertainty of illness are given the gift of normalcy, connection, and lighthearted moments that allow them to simply be children again, the organization said.

“We understood at a very deep level how cancer affects families and a person beyond the medical treatment and what doctors and nurses are doing in the hospital setting to cure your cancer,” Spilman said. “There’s just so much of the emotional and financial burden. How it affects the people around you, your job and how to talk about it with your children. And being a caregiver who has done that twice, it is really complicated. The fact that they not only support individuals going through cancer but the families, the caregivers – finding a community that they can find here is life-saving in itself.”

Bornstein has been with The Gathering Place since 2000. A licensed independent social worker with supervision designation with the organization, she has helped develop and lead healing-centered offerings ranging from reiki and healing arts services to specialized support groups for blood cancers, prostate cancer, metastatic breast cancer and grief.

“It’s amazing because I’ve been here since the beginning and was in on the planning and everything,” Bornstein told the CJN. “And I was really surprised when Michele said, ‘We want to honor you for your dedication and your years here.’ I’ve been in the oncology area for many years before The Gathering Place, but this place is dear to my heart because we offer services free and see anyone of any age at any stage. The work we do is holy in terms of holding people psychologically in terms of their cancer journey.”

Eileen Coan has been The Gathering Place’s medical librarian since its inception and has helped guide the community to information during an overwhelming stage in their lives. Translating complex pathology reports, explaining treatment options and helping participants uncover research they may never have found otherwise is part of her role, the organization said.

“From the get-go, the mission really spoke to me,” Coan told the CJN. “I felt that this is a perfect place for my training, but also for my passion. I have a master’s in psychology and a master’s in library science, which might seem like an odd combination, but I meet people who are in crisis and then help them with whatever they need, whether it’s information, listening or problem solving.”

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