October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Elizabethtown College is working to raise awareness of the disease. According to breastcancer.org, approximately one in eight women will develop breast cancer during her lifetime.
Breast cancer is the second most common cancer American women are diagnosed with, following skin cancer. The death rates for breast cancer are highest other than death rates relating to lung cancer, as stated by breastcancer.org. Additionally, a woman’s risk of breast cancer nearly doubles if she has a mother, sister or daughter diagnosed with breast cancer; however, less than 15 percent of women who get breast cancer have a family member diagnosed with it, according to breastcancer.org.
For this reason, there has been a movement to increase awareness of breast cancer and to encourage people to be vigilant for changes in their breasts and to perform breast self-exams.
This October, the College is leading several initiatives to promote breast cancer awareness.
Throughout the month of October, the College store is selling pink paper pumpkins to decorate their windows. While the store decorates for the fall season every year, this year Office Manager Nancy Fink came up with the idea for pink paper pumpkins that students or community members can purchase, write on and use to decorate the store. All proceeds from the pumpkins go to Colleges Against Cancer (CAC).
Fink had her idea following the loss of Textbook/Receiving Manager Debbie Peterson in August. Peterson battled breast cancer before passing away.
Fink has found it interesting to see what people are choosing to write on their pumpkins. “Some people have put really special messages in memory of a loved one, messages of inspiration or memories. Some just do smiley faces. It is entirely up to the donors,” she said.
Donations of a dollar or more give a person a chance to share their thoughts and positive messages, as well as support CAC.
The pink pumpkin initiative will continue until the end of October, so students still have time to donate. “I would love to see the front windows plastered by homecoming so people see how the campus community has come together,” Fink said.
In addition to the Store’s pink paper pumpkins, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18, students can paint a pumpkin pink in the Koon’s Activity Venue (KAV) to celebrate breast cancer awareness month and to honor the memories of friends and family lost to cancer. This event is sponsored by the Employee Wellness Team.
Friday, Oct. 19, CAC is sponsoring a Breast Cancer Awareness Table outside the Marketplace from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to provide information to any interested students.
Wednesday, Oct. 24 from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. CAC is holding the event “Feel Your Boobies- Bras Across Campus” in the KAV. Elizabethtown College is one of eight colleges participating in the Feel Your Boobies movement with the Bras Across Campus initiative. Other schools include York College and Penn State Harrisburg.
According to the Feel Your Boobies website, “Feel Your Boobies® Foundation is a nonprofit breast cancer organization that promotes proactive breast health to young women through strategic education & outreach programs. [Their] campaign [and] programs focus on education and outreach primarily for women under 40 (pre-mammogram age).”
Bras Across Campus encourages students to donate their bras to draw attention to breast cancer and raises money which contributes to the foundation’s college outreach program.
