PMC Unpaved Living Proof Toast

The Toast

Living Proof is what the Pan‑Mass Challenge calls its riders and volunteers who are cancer survivors or current patients. At PMC Unpaved, the PMC’s gravel ride through the Berkshires, Saturday ends with a toast to them. The riding is done, and the whole camp gathers on the stone steps by the lake at Camp Mah‑Kee‑Nac in Lenox.

PMC founder Billy Starr opened it. He thanked PwC for presenting the Living Proof program and reminded the crowd how far that community has come: once something people kept quiet, now more than a thousand riders who sign up as Living Proof. Then he handed the microphone to the keynote, Jen Timmins of Dana‑Farber’s philanthropy team. It was her first Unpaved, five months to the day after the phone call that made her Living Proof herself. She talked about trading her employee badge for a patient badge, asked everyone to get their screenings, and closed with the toast: here’s to Living Proof.

The Shoot

Snowcap Productions covered it with three cameras and two drones. I ran two of the cameras, on the people speaking and the faces listening, while the drones took the gathering from above. A toast happens once. The coverage is set before the first word: every angle rolling, clean sound, nobody crossing the shot at the wrong moment.

It came the day after the fireside chat with Dana‑Farber’s CEO, on the same stage by the lake. I shot and cut that one. Same crew, same camp, a very different night.

Watch & Links

Watch on Vimeo → The Pan-Mass Challenge → The PMC Unpaved Fireside Chat →