October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and students are getting involved however they can to raise awareness.
Last Tuesday, Phi Sigma Sigma and Sigma Pi co-hosted an event where teams decorated bras and modeled them, with all proceeds being donated to the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF).
The event was held in the Mabel Brown room where students gathered to watch the models and decide on a winner through a text-in poll on Phi Sig’s Twitter page.
With a $1 entry fee, $3 fee for each team and ribbons and tickets for sale, Phi Sig Philanthropy chairs Tori Tine and Meghan Powell said they hoped to raise at least 100 dollars.
Tine said that raising money toward a cure was important because of how many people have a personal connection with breast cancer.
“We all know someone that’s been affected by breast cancer; it’s such a widespread disease that we should be raising awareness and we should be raising money to end it,” Tine said.
Sigma Pi brother Matt Yetsko was the MC for the event.
Colton McKraken / Equinox Staff
“I said I would because it’s for a good cause, and it’s a fun event,” Yetsko said.
Phi Sig sister Erica Beebe said that her aunt had breast cancer, which inspired her to want to raise awareness and money.
“Seeing everyone decorate the bras for breast cancer…it’s powerful,” Beebe said.
Beebe said that she was selling breast cancer with breast cancer at some point in their lives. It is the most commonly diagnosed cancer.
According to NBCF, there are 200,000 women a year who are diagnosed with breast cancer. NBCF provides breast health services to women in need of them.
Following the presentation, each team had a member model the bra that they made for the audience.
Phi Sig sister Jordan Cardinal was on one of the teams. Cardinal said that she had fun participating in the event and was glad to contribute to the cause.
“My aunt had breast cancer, she’s a survivor, so it’s important to me, and a lot of other people in my sorority, in Greek life and just the college in general,” Cardinal said.
The teams included a bird theme, a New England Patriots theme and a barnyard theme, which took the top three spots in the polls.
The barnyard theme took first place, and the team’s model and Phi Sig sister Marissa Depolo said that, while it was fun to win, she was mostly happy that they got to raise money for the cause.
“All of us came together and put in our ideas and crafted [the bra] yesterday,” Depolo said. “I think that we all need to continuously work towards raising for a cure.”
One of the most prominent phrases heard during the event was “I won’t stop until pink is just another color.” This was repeated a number of times in a video compiled by Phi Sig and Sigma Pi.
“We videotaped a couple of my brothers saying a couple of lines for the video [about] how breast cancer affected them, or saying [that they’re] not going to stop until pink is just another color,” Yetsko said.
According to Tine, the event raised $140 for NBCF. Phi Sig has also had a hand in the Walk for Alzheimer’s and the Water Walk events on campus this semester, and have several more charity events to come.
Devon can be contacted at droberts@kscequinox.com
