Sails Up 4 Cancer Receives $30k Donation from Holmgren Subaru

Originally published in the Norwich Bulletin on April 11, 2017

Franklin, CT – Since its founding six years ago, Sails Up 4 Cancer has donated thousands of dollars to organizations, including the Children’s Cancer Research Fund and the Visiting Nurses Association of Southeast Connecticut.

It also has helped dozens of New London County cancer patients pay their bills and put food on the table.

On Tuesday morning, Bob Davis, a two-time cancer survivor, avid sailor and the founder and CEO of the nonprofit Sails Up 4 Cancer, accepted the charity’s largest donation yet.

The Holmgren family, of Holmgren Subaru in Franklin, presented Davis with a check for nearly $31,000.

“It means the world,” Davis said shortly after accepting the donation at the New Park Avenue dealership. “It puts us over the top and gives us the ability to help, exponentially, more families ... as they’re undergoing cancer treatments.”

The donation was the result of Subaru of America’s “Share the Love” campaign, in which a portion of each sale or lease of a Subaru during a specific time frame is donated to a retailer’s charity of choice.

Eric Holmgren, of Holmgren Subaru, said selecting Sails Up 4 Cancer as the campaign’s beneficiary for the last four years has been an easy choice.

“I liked how the money stayed local,” he said of the charity.

Also a boating enthusiast, Holmgren first met Davis through sailing more than a decade ago. The two became good friends.

“He’s just one of those people you meet who are incredibly positive and nothing gets them down,” Holmgren, of Mystic, said of Davis.