StringsforaCURE

From Philly.com

When Angela Cordisco and Elisa Guida were young girls together, endlessly playing "Yesterday," "Twist and Shout," and other cherished Beatles 45s in the basement of Guida's Drexel Hill home, their lives stretched before them.

Cordisco didn't know she would marry a guitar-playing doctor, raise three music-loving children, and make a home in Moorestown.

Guida, always an artist, might have been surprised to learn that she would settle in Erie, start a jewelry business, and marry happily at 39.

She didn't suspect she would battle breast cancer not once, but twice, and live to rock on.

"In so many ways, music has bonded us for over 50 years," Cordisco said of the women's enduring friendship.

Through that bond, and with a lot in their lives to be thankful for, they've teamed up to make a difference for others.

Guida, 57, is founder of the StringsforaCURE Foundation, and Cordisco, 55, an honorary board member, helps get out the word to further the group's cause - helping cancer patients.

She has received the strings of about 100 musicians in the last three years, Guida said. Since she began making the items and distributing the proceeds last year, the group has given about $8,000 to 85 individuals and has a good deal more to go, she said. The foundation's application for status as a tax-exempt charity is pending.

Her earrings, pendants, rings, and bracelets - which sell for about $25 to $500 - have brought in more than $24,000, Guida said.

"The joy is helping - me being able to give back, because I know how much it means," said Guida, whose cancer has been in remission for six years.

Cordisco said one of her siblings has a connection with homeless advocate Sister Mary Scullion, which helped lead to a string donation from Jon Bon Jovi.

StringsforaCURE isn't the only group that uses guitar strings for fund-raising, and Guida said string jewelry has been around for decades, at least. But friends and music aficionados have helped the foundation connect with artists, their mangers, crew members, representatives, and family members.

You can read the whole article here.

~ Hath