Charlotte Scott Sutherland, CEO
Cancer Outreach Foundation, Inc.
Abingdon, VA 24211

Charlotte Scott Sutherland has spent her adult life working with and for others. Smyth County, Va., was her home for more than 30 years, where she wore many hats – math teacher, director of pupil personnel services, among others.

In 1996 her life changed forever, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She fought a difficult battle which included five surgeries and 11 months of chemotherapy. Through education, Sutherland had already touched lives. Now she had a new message and a new passion that would again touch lives: the message of hope and help for those facing the same horrors she did. She became a source of information, compassion and hope for cancer patients all over Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee. She would work so that all area cancer patients would receive the best care and treatment available.

Sutherland’s oncologist, Dr. Forrest Swan, Jr., knew of her passion and ability to lead, inform, educate, organize and inspire, so when he was looking for a CEO for the newly-formed Cancer Outreach Foundation, he turned to her. Many new lessons were to be learned and new skills to be honed: filing for 501-C-3 status, making speeches at civic clubs and church functions, organizing a board of directors for the Foundation and forming relationships with pharmaceutical company representatives. Fundraising opportunities had to be varied, and the flow of funds had to be continuous. During 2004 and 2005 the Cancer Outreach Foundation, under Sutherland’s leadership, raised more than $150,000 from special events, grants, gifts and contributions. These monies paid for medicine, medical bills, mortgages/rents, utilities, transportation, counseling and living necessities for 223 local cancer patients.

Anne Coulthard, Cancer Outreach Foundation board member, says, “Very special people want their lives to be meaningful, their efforts to make a difference and their world to be a better place as a result of their efforts. Charlotte Scott Sutherland not only believes these credos; she LIVES them! At the end of the day, Charlotte could rest well knowing that our world is a better place as a result of her individual passion to serve those who walk in her shoes — the shoes of a cancer patient. However, in reality, Charlotte seldom rests and is always thinking about what she needs to do tomorrow.”

According to Ron Ely, retired assistant superintendent for Washington County Schools, Sutherland has been outstanding in educating the community about the needs of cancer patients and their families, especially those without health care insurance. “As a cancer patient herself,” he says, “she has an empathy and motivation to serve that are truly exceptional.”