2008

The Avon Foundation recently sent us a letter expressing their gratitude for our participation in the 2008 Avon Walk for Breast Cancer Charlotte. Here's some info we thought you'd find interesting:

The Avon Walk series last year - held nationwide in nine U.S. cities - was the most successful in the event's history, having raised more than $56 million in donations! 

Local beneficiaries of the 2008 Avon Walk for Breast Cancer Charlotte include:

*North Carolina Baptist Hospital (Winston-Salem, NC) received $375,000 to support a community outreach and patient navigation services program that expands the Avon Foundation safety net to Winston-Salem. Navigators will work to reduce disparities in breast care among the African-American community by expanding the current program to include more patients from the surrounding rural counties.

*Presbyterian Hospital (Charlotte, NC) received $300,000 to support its community outreach and patient navigation program to improve access to screening, diagnostics, and treatment to underserved populations in underserved populations in Charlotte, NC, Mecklenburg County and eleven surrounding counties.

*Carolinas Medical Center (Charlotte, NC) received $275,000 to support the Mecklenburg County Breast Care Management program that provides outreach and patient navigation services to medically underserved women in Charlotte. The staff coordinated screening and care through the Carolinas Hospital, the Blumenthal Cancer Center, and the Myers Park Clinic.

*Health Research Alliance (Research Triangle Park, NC) received $95,000 to support the development of a web-based grants database that will contain pooled grant information of nonprofit agencies. This award is a key outcome of the Avon-led collaboration between Avon and other foundations.

Funds raised by the Avon Walk Charlotte also support national programs:

*Avon Foundation Breast Care Fund was awarded $7,000,000 to be disbursed as grants to 145 non-profit Community Based Organizations across the country - with at least one in every state - for education and outreach programs. These programs will collectively navigate 150,000 women next year into mammography screening and will educate 500,000 others on breast health and the importance of early detection.

*Cancer Care (New York, NY) was awarded $1,500,000 to continue AvonCares - a financial assistance program that provides cash for low-income women facing breast cancer. The cash assistance can be used to pay for gas to get to a doctors appointment, or for child care or elder care. The program which launched in 2000, has already assisted 39,000 women who have received approximately $250 each, for a total of $9,750,000.

*Love/Avon Army of Women was created with a $1,200,000 award to recruit 1-million women around the country to participate in studies to understand the causes of breast cancer and how to prevent the disease. All women should learn more by visiting www.armyofwomen.org.

We hope you found this info as inspiring as we did!

Info of the Week

Early detection is the KEY to more successful treatment. The American Cancer Society (ACS) recommends the following schedule for women at average risk.

Age 40 and over: Mammogram and clinical breast exam yearly.
Age 20s and 30s: Clinical breast exam about every 3 years.
Starting in 20s: Choose whether or how often to do breast self-exam.

Note: ACS recommends that women at higher risk have an annual mammogram and MRI beginning at age 30.

This information was found in Women & Breast Health, provided by Carolinas Medical Center.

Article in Charlotte Observer

We recently told you to look for an article about our Focused on a Cure campaign that was written by Barbara Thiede. The article was printed in last Sunday's Charlotte Observer. If you didn't get a chance to read it, click here. Hope you enjoy!

Avon Walk!

They did it! The Avon Walk was this past weekend. Renda and Tara completed 20 miles on Saturday and 13 miles on Sunday! We're so proud of them!!

All of the images are posted online... but here's a sneak peek!

Before the walk started on Saturday morning, the girls signed the names of our survivors that they walked in honor of.



Meet the Pinkerbellas! They were dressed up and ready to walk!



Only halfway girls!



Here's another team from Kentucky. Their team of 16 members raised a total of $50,000!



The halfway mark was at Charlotte Country Day School. They were cheering the walkers on. Renda added our survivors to their banner!

At the 20 mile marker, the girls made the decision to stop for the day. What an accomplishment... 20 miles in one day!

Words cannot explain how good that massager felt on Tara's feet... but her expression can.

Karen and Rhonda visited the girls Saturday evening and brought them their favorite.... Chik-fil-A milkshakes!

Milkshakes and foot massages... what else can a girl ask for?

Here's Renda's decorated bag.

"My Avon Walk For: Rhonda Sloop, Jill, Jane, Allison, Judy, Angie, and Shirley"

... and her shoes that were white at 6am.

The girls in their Focused on a Cure hats.

Meet the Cleavage Crusaders! They were an entertaining group!

Renda, Rhonda, and Tara at the Wellness Village.

Sunday, bright and early, in the cold!

This guy was cheering the walkers on... "You ladies are utterly amazing!"

This guy was cheering on from his car with a megaphone and a "I'm a breast man" shirt!

This was Team Courage. They had a team member in a wheelchair. That's inspiring.

Someone else has their own "Millie and Luke." Meet Bailey....

and Bacardi!

As the girls passed, they noticed this man standing to the side with pink roses and wondered who he was waiting for. Little did they know, it was the group of ladies behind them. As they approached, he gave each lady a pink rose. What a sweeatheart!

This is the motto of the Pinkerbellas... "Faith, trust and Pinksie dust combined with the happiest of thoughts are all your need to walk for a cure!"

This was another team that the girls met - The TaBoobs. One of their team members made hats for the other team members. They were pink crocheted breasts! So creative!

And they finally made it to what they thought was the end.... but they soon realized it was 13.3 miles! :)

.3 miles to go!

And now they're happy!

Karen and Rhonda were waiting at the end to greet them. Rhonda was thankful for Renda's dedication.

There they are at the finish line. Mission complete!

There were tons of people cheering them on as they crossed the finish line.

Tara took 78,473 steps. Renda claims she took more.... due to having shorter legs!

This was the youth crew that was there to encourage the walkers. Renda was inspired by their generosity to volunteer at an event like this.

Then it was time to tend to the blisters.

The closing ceremony started with the entrance of all the walkers.

Then the survivors made their entrance with a round of applause.

This was the oldest survivor participant. She was in her 70s!

This lady was honored as a single participant to have raised over 1 million dollars! She has participated in 98 walks in various cities!

Since 1992, Avon has raised over $525 million towards breast cancer and still counting....

For two days, we walked as one.

To view all the images from the Avon Walk, click here. Simply enter your name and email address to access the images.

Thanks again to everyone who helped us raise money for the Digital Divas! In 2009, we hope to participate in several walks and we hope you'll join us!

Fight Like a Girl!

Tomorrow is the big day! Renda and Tara are up for the challenge!

They'll be checking into the event around 6am tomorrow, walking a marathon and then enjoying the festivities put on by Avon. Then Sunday they'll start over with a half-marathon. And Monday... they might be a little soar!

We want to thank everyone who has made donations towards our Digital Divas team! But this isn't over! We want this to be an annual campaign and a year full of events!

Info of the Week

We've decided to start an educational "info of the week" blogpost. Each week, we'll post some helpful breast cancer information - anything from facts, statistics, tips for mammograms and self breast exams, etc.

We hope you'll find this useful!

This week's information is...

Myth: If a mammogram does detect a problem, it's too late to do anything about it.

Fact: Mammograms can detect most breast cancers very early, giving you more treatment options and greater chances of survival. Mammograms could save your life!

This information was found in Women and Breast Health by Carolinas Medical Center.

Giving Hope

The 28th annual Healing Threads Fashion Benefit was held Monday and Tuesday evening at the Gibson Mill in Concord. The even was hosted by Suzanne Stevens Becker with the theme, "Giving Hope." There was a full house both nights and the event raised $106,000 for the CMC - Northeast Breast Health Program!

They put thought into every little detail. The tables were decorated with pink ribbons, pink vases, goodies and information. Butterflies hung from the ceiling as symbols of hope. It was beautiful!

Karen and Renda were able to attend the event, which was great! We were there to talk to people and get wonderful feedback about our exhibit. Everyone loved the images and are looking forward to seeing what our campaign has to offer next year.















We want to thank everyone at CMC-Northeast for letting us be a part of this wonderful event. It has inspired us to dream bigger for next year's campaign!