Bras For a Cause

October is known as the month of Pumpkin Spice Lattes, sweater weather and apple picking, but most importantly it’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Everyday, friends and family of the Penn State community are affected by this terrible disease.

This Tuesday, October 20, Valley is teaming up with Pink Zone for an amazing event to raise awareness of breast cancer. Everyone has old bras they never wear, right? Well, bring yours to Old Main this Tuesday from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. to write a message on them to honor those who have battled or been affected by breast cancer. Once all of the bras have been brought to Old Main, we will lay out the bras in the shape of a breast cancer ribbon in order to raise awareness within the Penn State community. Bras for a cause!

This will be a huge event, so come out and be a part of it. There will be picture opportunities and other fun events as well! Here’s more about our awesome partners, the Pink Zone:

The Pennsylvania Pink Zone is a non-profit organization at Penn State that promotes awareness and raises money to support breast cancer organizations in their education, prevention and fight against cancer! Breast cancer directly affected Allison Hedin, a junior at Penn State, when her mom was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer in Spring 2015.

“Breast cancer has made me appreciate all the people in my life that love and support my family,” says Hedin. “I realized that certain aspects of my life that I used to complain about are almost irrelevant now because of witnessing all of the treatments my mom has to go through and I barely hear a peep of complaining out of her. She’s incredible!”

As a university, we have joined together to support cancer research and families by raising money through organizations like Pink Zone. Pink Zone, created by the Penn State Women’s basketball team, became a non-profit organization as they began to grow in size and expand their fundraising efforts.

Valley talked to Pink Zone’s Executive Director Miriam Powell, who has been a part of this organization for five years. “Our mission is to raise awareness at Penn State and in our community, to empower breast cancer survivors and to fundraise year round on behalf of breast cancer in order to support education, treatment and a research for a cure,” says Powell.

The Pink Zone’s annual basketball game will be happening for the tenth time this January, honoring breast cancer survivors and raising money for research. Powell says that Penn State was the first team to ever wear pink uniforms and this trend only exists because of the Lady Lions basketball team. The game is free to students and a great way to show your support for a wonderful cause!

Pink Zone holds other annual fundraising events including the Little Black Dress Goes Pink Fashion Show where survivors and their families are the models. Pink Zone also teams up with the Student Book Store throughout the year selling Pink Zone t-shirts and donating the profits to breast cancer research.

Help support the Pink Zone and us by bringing your old bras to Old Main this Tuesday. It’ll be a great event— see you there!