Fighting for a good cause
Group surpasses $100,000 in funds for cancer centre
The Boularderie MammoWarriors have raised more than $100,000, including a total of $32,226.26 this year, for the Cape Breton Cancer Centre.
“When it was announced that the Dragon Boat Festival had been cancelled for 2015, our team was pretty devastated,” said Sandra Kay, a member of the Boularderie MammoWarriors. “We regrouped quickly and decided to find a way to turn the bad news into good.”
The group fundraises all year long for the cancer centre.
She said the concern was that since the festival was cancelled, the public perception was the team was cancelled as well.
“Once we’d overcome that hurdle, we thought to turn the lack of a festival into an opportunity for a big thank you to our community and supporters from the MammoWarriors,” Kay said. “Because the Cape Breton Cancer Patient Care Fund relies on our fundraising, we wanted to present our monies in mid-July as usual.”
The group presented representatives of the Cape Breton Cancer Centre with a donation during a special celebration at Ross Ferry Marine Park in July.
“The needs in the Cape Breton Cancer Centre continue to grow, with increasing number of diagnoses each year and higher patient visits. Having the dedication and support of community groups, like the MammoWarriors, we are able to better care for Cape Bretoners battling cancer,” said Brad Jacobs, CEO Cape Breton Regional Hospital Foundation. “This group, most of them survivors, know too well the importance of having available treatment at home in Cape Breton. We celebrate with them and thank them for their commitment as they reach their $100,000 milestone this year.”
Danielle Johnston, manager of annual giving for the hospital foundation, was on hand for the presentation, as well as other foundation staff, when Boularderie School students presented the $1665.40 they raised in their Walk for Care last October to the Festival’s dragon mascot.
“We feel as though we’re part of a much larger team made up of the entire community,” said Kay. “And that’s a wonderful thing, because donations of all sizes add up quickly.”
She added that the emphasis for the celebration was to thank the local community, family, friends, and supporters for their encouragement and generosity over the years.
“In our eight years together, we’ve raised over $100,000, and this year’s total is our largest so far. Our team has consistently won the festival’s award for most funds raised, and last year placed placed 8th overall in the festival races.”
Fundraising events have included a soup luncheon in the fall; the night at the nunnery event in the early spring, a bake sale with flowers before Easter; a turkey salad luncheon on Father’s Day and two estate sales with the team managing sales and displays of household goods and various other fundraisers when the team see an opportunity.
“When it was announced that the Dragon Boat Festival had been cancelled for 2015, our team was pretty devastated. We regrouped quickly and decided to find a way to turn the bad news into good.” Sandra Kay, a member of the Boularderie MammoWarriors