LITTLE CURRENT—Getting to the Little Current United Church’s (LCUC) Dress for a Cause luncheon on October 20 among the first 60 dining patrons will reward you with a limited edition boobie t-shirt. Take note, however, this year the event is not taking place after a service.
“For years we did it after church on Sunday,” said LCUC Outreach Committee Chair Gail Gjos. “This year we are going to be holding the luncheon on the actual Dress for a Cause day. Although we have had pretty good turnout in the past, it was felt we might get more of the general community out if we held it on the actual day.”
Ms. Gjos said that she found the Dress for a Cause group very good to work with. “They send you plenty of material to work with, including the pink decals we put on the t-shirt,” she said. Ms. Gjos purchased a batch of 60 t-shirts on which to put the decals. “They are not all white,” she said. “We got a number of colours, but the pink brassiere shows up pretty good on all of them.”
The so-called “boobie t-shirts” feature a pink brassiere as part of raising awareness for breast cancer research.
According to the Dress for a Cause website, one in eight Canadian women is expected to develop breast cancer during her lifetime and this year an estimated 26,300 Canadian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, of whom approximately 14 Canadian women will die of breast cancer every day. Of all estimated new cancers in women, breast cancer cases make up an estimated 25 percent, but it isn’t just about women, because men can develop breast cancer as well, and for every four men diagnosed with breast cancer, one will die from the disease.
Dress for a Cause Day was previously called Dress Down Day, and the event has successfully raised over $7 million for Canadian breast cancer research over the past 20 years.
As part of Dress for a Cause Day, the Breast Cancer Society of Canada asks businesses, clubs, schools and organizations of all sizes to donate, dress their office, or themselves, to acknowledge the day and to have fun hosting pink-themed events in their office to raise money for breast cancer research in Canada.
“I certainly don’t do this all by myself. I have an amazing Outreach Committee team of Shirley Viney, Glena Roy and Susie Jewell. I come up with these crazy ideas and they do most of the work,” laughed Ms. Gjos. “None of this would happen without all of their hard work and support.”
The Dress for a Cause luncheon will take place on Friday, October 20 at the Little Current United Church Hall at 5 Robinson Street in Little Current, starting at 11:30 until 1 pm. Luncheon will cost $12, “although we would be really happy if folks would pay $15 to help offset the costs,” said Ms. Gjos. “We will reduce the cost to $10 after we run out of t-shirts.”
