Growing together

The Texarkana Affiliate of Susan G. Komen, sponsor of the annual Texarkana Race for the Cure, and the Arkansas Affiliate, sponsor of the Komen Arkansas Race for the Cure, merged as of April 1.

For years, we’ve shared a common mission. Now we will share resources, ideas and energy as we work toward advancing breast-health services and breast-cancer education and outreach in our area.

The Texarkana Affiliate was incorporated in 1998 and has sponsored 18 Race for the Cure events to benefit breast health in a six-county area that includes Bowie, Cass, Miller, Little River, Lafayette and Hempstead counties. Funds totaling more than $4.5 million have been returned to the area for breast-cancer screening and breast-health education. In addition, $1.5 million has funded breast-cancer research at the national level.

The Arkansas Affiliate was incorporated in 1992 and has sponsored 23 races and returned $16.6 million to breast-health services and $5.7 million to national breast-cancer research.The affiliate’s service area includes 63 counties in Arkansas.

The Texarkana Race for the Cure will continue to take place, with the next one scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 21. Race chairs Morgan Jerry and Brittanie Stone are organizing that event.

The Arkansas Affiliate Board of Directors will expand to include three positions for Texarkana-area directors. Dr. Randy Sarrett, Pam Beck and Patsy Morriss will fill these positions initially.

Joining forces is a positive move, as we believe our combined efforts will always exceed what we can do individually.This year, the combined grants from these two races generated $662,000 for local service providers and gave more than $321,000 for national research — totaling $983,000.