But the numbers she is proudest of add up to one huge accomplishment — 320 miles walked by Patti and 500 miles by Noreen Moloney ’90 and more than $500,000 raised for breast cancer research.

Patti Fennessy Novy ’89, at left, and Noreen Moloney ’90, right, lead a team that has raised more than half a million dollars for breast cancer research.

The Alpha Sigma Chi sisters have led a team in the New York City Avon Breast Cancer Walk since 2004, the year after the disease claimed the life of Michele, the sister of Patti’s husband, David Novy ’89.

Little by little, their team — the Wellness Warriors — grew in numbers and fundraising prowess. At the October 2011 walk, they passed a landmark. Their eight-year team total is $582,824. They placed third for fundraising the last two years, out of more than 300 teams.

Patti and Noreen are proudest that their team, which numbers between 30 and 40 walkers each year, raised their money without any corporate sponsorships. They work all year to accomplish their goal, with fundraisers at a local bowling alley, a Super Bowl pool, a comedy show and a bartending night at a local establishment.

When walk weekend comes each fall, they join 4,000 other participants for a two-day 40-mile trek through New York City.

“We walk because we can,” says Patti. “A lot of people can’t.”

“A walk is easy compared to what a cancer patient has to go through,” says Noreen, whose mother is a breast cancer survivor. “It’s my way of giving back and helping others — just a chance to make a difference.”

The friends realize that finding the cure to one cancer is the key to curing all cancers. And having reached a half-million dollar milestone, Patti has another goal. “I don’t want to walk forever,” she says. “I would love it if I never had to do again, because that would mean we have a cure.”

“I’ve been on a mission,” Groce-Wright said.

In 2009, then-49-year-old Groce-Wright began mixing running into her walking routine around Richmond, Va., where she lives and works as an education consultant.

Cheryl Groce-Wright ’82 ran in the International Marathon Sept. 26 in Ghana to benefit the Longevity Project. She is pictured here after a recent race with her son, Carson.

“A minute became two and then five and I thought. ‘Well, maybe I can train for a race,’” she recalled. With a 10K and half marathon under her belt, Groce-Wright turned her attention to another goal — traveling to Africa.

The former Black Student Union member and African-American studies minor built a lifelong base for activism while a student studying communications at Oswego.

“I think that was the beginning and sort of awakening for me,” Groce-Wright said of her time at Oswego with professors emeriti like Kenneth Hall and Alfred Young.

In 2000, Groce-Wright met Ghana activist Nana Kweku Egyir Gyepi III while he was on a speaking tour. His vision for creating a Mecca in Ghana for African natives and descendents all over the world has intrigued Groce-Wright ever since.

She used her newfound love of running to finally make the trip to the African nation, running in the Accra International Marathon Sept. 26 and raising $1,660 for the Longevity Project, funding health initiatives and education in Ghana.

The race took on added meaning when, shortly after she arrived for the marathon, Groce-Wright learned her father had passed away.

“The race did end up being in honor of my father who ran with me the whole way,” she said. “And the rainbow at the start of the race told me he was right there with me, and that I was right where I was supposed to be.”

While her newly launched consulting service, Kaleidoscope Collaborative, focuses on interweaving diversity into education, Groce-Wright said she would like to someday work as a personal trainer. “I really have been so empowered by running and I feel that I can empower other people,” she said.

— Shane M. Liebler