Ribbon Raises Breast Cancer Awareness

More than 80 faculty, staff and students formed a human pink ribbon on McHale Beach on October 24 to raise breast cancer awareness. The event was coordinated by Peer Advocates.

There was no designated shade of pink to wear, because breast cancer knows no race, color or ethnicity. The Peer Advocates, including coordinators Lisa Midwinter, junior, and Nicole DeAngelis, sophomore, say that everyone is affected in some way by breast cancer.

Junior Peer Advocate Ashley Ballard was recently affected when her aunt passed away from breast cancer. Ballard was unable to attend a walk in New York City with her cousin to support breast cancer awareness, so she decided to make an effort on campus.

“I was really touched by such a big step for such a young person, and I felt that we could do more. So I brought the idea to the Peer Advocate Group, and together we decided this was an issue that we wanted to address,” said Ballard.

A one dollar donation allowed participants to receive a copy of the photo of the human breast cancer awareness ribbon.

Originally the event was to benefit the Susan G. Coleman foundation until the Peer Advocates became aware of the Flyte and Moore Walk Across Pennsylvania, a June fundraiser in which participants will walk from Pittston to Pittsburgh. The event was created by Julianne and Jennifer Oliver of Pittston. “We were really touched by Julie and Jen’s effort, and felt that because our group is about helping other students, this was a way help them and the foundation,” said Ballard.

Despite the unusually cold October weather, the ribbon raised more than $80.

The MU Marketing and Communications Department immediately got involved, and they were able to raise local awareness, and even WNEP 16 took part – shooting the human ribbon from their helicopter, Skycam 16.

Peer Advocates also handed out pink ribbons to those who could not participate but still wanted to show their support. Each member made 25 ribbons, and more than 750 ribbons were handed out to students, faculty and staff.

The peer advocates say this was a quick way to get everyone involved while still making a statement.