October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and as all things in Austin turn pink, RRISD employees are also doing their part to raise awareness and funds for cancer research.
A group of Round Rock ISD employees has formed a team for the Komen Austin Race for the Cure on Sunday, Nov. 1 at the Domain in Austin. More than 50 employees, a mix of breast cancer survivors and those who have been touched by breast cancer, have joined the team to raise more than $2,100 which does not include the $30 participation fee per person. The team has been sponsored by RockSports, a locally-owned print screening and signs company, which will provide special RRISD Team t-shirts to all participants.
Grisham Middle School also has a team participating in Sunday's Race for the Cure. The team is sponsored by the school's art teacher, Kristin Berry, and her art students - one of which has lost a mom to breast cancer and one student's mom is currently diagnosed with breast cancer.
Another group of teachers and employees at Brushy Creek Elementary have already made plans to travel to Dallas for a 3-day, 60-mile walk benefitting the Breast Cancer Foundation and Susan G. Komen Foundation. The 10-person group had to raise $2,300 per person in order to take part in the walk.
The group leader, Lynn Stobinski, said the team started when she began talking to another teacher at Brushy Creek who is a 17-year survivor of breast cancer. Although Stobinski has never been diagnosed with breast cancer, she has several family members who have been diagnosed and died from breast cancer. She also knows other teachers at Brushy Creek Elementary who have been diagnosed. She said all the members have their reasons, and some prefer to keep it private, but it boils down to the fact that they want a world without breast cancer.
Stobinski said the Brushy Creek Elementary community has been very supportive of the cause and has helped the teachers and other workers to raise the money through innovative programs. The group did a jeans fundraiser where they sold tickets for $5 and for each ticket, an employee got to wear jeans for a day. The jeans fundraiser helped raise $940. The team also worked with the school’s P.E. teacher, Charles Wilkerson, who has a tamale business by paying for the supplies and helping to make tamales which raised $200.
“There are days we don't feel like getting up to walk 15 or 18 miles, but life could be worse - we could be battling breast cancer!” Stobinski said. “We get up and we walk and we walk proudly. We hope everyone will please keep us in their thoughts on Nov.6-8. We will do our best to make RRISD very proud!”
Donate to the Brushy Creek Elementary team.
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers among women. Doctors believe that screening can save thousands of lives each year, and that many more lives could be saved if more women and their health care providers took advantage of these tests. Early detection of breast cancer improves the chances that breast cancer can be diagnosed at an early stage and treated successfully.