STARS board members present an $18,000 check to the Sutter Medical Center Foundation Tuesday.

Amador Support, Transportation and Resource Services donated $18,000 Tuesday to the Sutter Medical Center Foundation to be used for clinical trials that will test possible new cancer treatments and allow doctors and researchers to learn more about the complex nature of the disease.

The donation came from the more than $100,000 raised at the 2005 Camp Out for Cancer, a 21-hour walk-a-thon to raise money for local cancer patient needs and for cancer research.

"This community has the biggest heart," STARS director Ginger Rolf told Dr. Vincent Caggiano, research medical director of the Sutter Cancer Center, and Evelyn Maginnity of the Sutter Medical Center Foundation, who received the check at the STARS office in Jackson.

The donation will be used by Sutter Medical Foundation for the cost of collecting and managing the data collected from clinical research trials, Rolf wrote in a description of the donation. According to Sutter Cancer Center, clinical trials are designed to determine if a new drug or treatment will be effective in treating a disease or will potentially be of benefit to patients. Clinical trials allow doctors and researchers to gain information on the benefits, side effects and possible uses of new drugs.

"All advances in cancer research have been made in systematic trials," Caggiano said. "We've seen many advances in the last 30 years, but we have a long way to go to (find a) way to cure all cancers, but step by step we're getting closer."

Caggiano and Maginnity expressed admiration of the services STARS offers cancer patients in Amador County, which include transportation to cancer treatment appointments in Sacramento, Rancho Cordova, Stockton, Lodi and locally, as well as various types of support groups and resource services.

"The service you're providing by transporting patients is very commendable," Caggiano said, "because without it, these patients would receive no treatment. You can have a $10 million treatment center, but if you can't get the patients there, it's not worth a penny."

To learn more about the many services STARS offers, call 223-1246. The STARS office is at 631 Court St., Jackson.