Breast Cancer Support Services of Berks County has appointed Debbie Lessie, President and Georgette Dukes McAllister, Vice President of the Board of Directors. The staff and volunteers look forward to continuing our mission of providing hope, information and emotional support to women and men affected by breast cancer under their leadership.
Debbie is a breast cancer survivor having being diagnosed in August of 2012. Receiving a BCSS comfort bag at her surgeon’s office was her introduction to BCSS.
She attended their Fall 2012 Newly Diagnosed Support Group and met a wonderful group of women that became her forever support group; they were experiencing what she was going through and they could talk about it with each other. Debbie attended Pink Power Nights and began volunteering in the office and at events. She became a facilitator for the Support Line and the Newly Diagnosed support groups because she wanted breast cancer survivors to know that they were not alone in their breast cancer journey, just as someone had done for her.
Debbie joined the board in 2017 and accepted the position of Vice President and Program Chair in 2018. Programs and events have been expanded and added with the support of the dedicated BCSS staff and volunteers.
“Volunteering is an important job that everyone should experience! Our volunteers, many of whom are survivors and also persons affected by breast cancer in some way, contribute their time and energy in many ways to BCSS. We hope to see many of our volunteers back again later this year, helping in the office, and at programs, future events, and fundraisers” said Lessie.
Debbie is a Berks County native and graduated from Reading High School. She has been happily married for 37 years to her husband, Michael, and they reside in Douglassville. She has three wonderful grown children with spouses and partner, a grandson, and a granddaughter due next month.
Georgette has spent her career working and volunteering with nonprofit organizations across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Over the past 25 years, she has served in C-level positions with various Federally Qualified Health Centers.
As part of the community effort, she assisted with the transition of Reading Hospital Ancillary to the Berks Community Health Center. While Georgette is not a cancer survivor, she is co-founder of Bosom Buddies, a BCSS program with the purpose to reduce breast cancer disparities for African American women by providing hope, outreach, education, emotional and social support to breast cancer survivors, family members and the community.
Georgette earned a degree in BBA Accounting from Howard University and her degree in MBA Health Care Management from University of Phoenix. She is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Sorority, Inc., Alpha Chapter, providing “Service to all Mankind.” A native of Philadelphia, she resides in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania, with her two children, James, Georgia and their three dogs.
The Board of Directors and staff of BCSS congratulate both Debbie and Georgette on their new roles as officers of the organization.
