For years, Jenn Hobby Rivera told stories about the lives and times of Atlantans from A to Z on radio station Star 94. In 2016, the storytelling became intensely personal as her now 10-year-old daughter, Reese, and her team of doctors battled a cancerous “solid” tumor at the base of her spine.

Ultimately, she was declared cancer-free. Reese was less than a year old when the tumor was discovered and she underwent surgery and chemotherapy at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

The experiences she and her husband soldiered through and the people met along the way  inspired a passion for fundraising, advocacy and volunteerism. The latest expression of that comes Nov. 5., during their annual ”Ring the Bell” pediatric cancer fundraiser in Marietta, which will be accompanied by the launch of a new cancer benefit fund.

Having largely left the microphone behind, Hobby has now put her ability to communicate into a new and crucial role as branding and communications director for the Atlanta-based nonprofit CURE Childhood Cancer. She segued to that position earlier his year.

“I think a health crisis like our family went through changes your life forever,” says Hobby.

“So I think that anyone who goes through a trauma like that it can prompt passion and for me it prompted a second act in my career.”

Hobby and husband Grant Rivera, the superintendent of Marietta City Schools, established  Reese’s MaGIC Fund in 2019. It’s brought in more than $713,000 to support solid tumor research at the AFLAC Cancer Center at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and to bolster MaGIC’s international clinical trials. They raised $137,000 in 2024 alone and hope for more this year.

Now, a new Reese’s Fund will launch under the CURE umbrella at next month’s fundraiser. Ring the Bell now falls under the same umbrella as well.

“ I think of CURE as having two sides, two arms. “Hobby says. “One arm is the patient services side, where we can serve meals, connect support, pay for rent and mortgages and keep the lights on, that sort of thing. The other is funding research.”

The funding arm is meant to bridge a frustrating money gap, indicates Kristin Connor, the CEO of CURE.

The Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation reports that less than 4 percent of the federal money allocated to cancer research goes to those studying pediatric cancer and that only a literal handful of drugs have been developed for childhood cancer treatment compared with more than 200 for adults.

The reason is money, say Hobby and Connor. The adult cancer drugs can be used on a much bigger treatment population, resulting in more profit.

“Pediatric cancer is just not a priority on a national level,” says Connor. ‘I think we can do better for these kids and I just have to be a part of that.”

That “doing better” approach will be much in evidence at the November benefit,  which will include a huge silent auction, food, a DJ, kid’s activities and a symbolic ringing of the bell that children do to mark their victory over the disease.

Connor, whose son was diagnosed with cancer at one month of age says this last fiscal  year “we invested about $5.6 million in research and our highest priority is the use of precision medicine to treat childhood cancer.”

She says Children’s has such a program (which CURE has helped fund as part of their support of the AFLAC Cancer Center) that looks for cancer markers at a genetic level, figuring out what went wrong in that microscopic space. That gives rise to precisely targeted treatment, sometimes altering treatment protocols and leading to better outcomes such as reducing complications months or years later.

And she stresses that the precision medicine program at Children’s debuted as only the third of its type in the U.S.

Hobby says their daughter is now a thriving ten-year-old who’s playing soccer and learning guitar. She knows she had cancer and bears the scars, but her mother says, “Thank goodness she has no real working memory of it.”

Oh, and as for Connor’s son?

“He’s 24 and doing well, “ she says.

She says the group gets no government money; they are supported by mechanisms such as fundraisers and individual donations.

“It’s hard work every day trying to bring people into what we’re doing, “ she says of the challenge.

The Nov. 5 benefit will unfold from 6-9 p.m. at Glover Park Brewery in Marietta. Tickets are $25 in advance, $35 at the door, $10 for kids ages 4 to 12. More information: ringthebellbenefit.com