October marks Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and to support those in the community battling the disease, the Hopkinsville Fire Department is hosting their annual T-shirt fundraiser to benefit the Pink Ribbon Network.
The network is a local breast cancer support group that offers multiple avenues of assistance to those with the disease such as financial support, companionship with others who have had the disease as well as encouragement and emotional support.
The T-shirt fundraiser kicked off in 2014 and each year since the department has sold shirts. Department Fire Marshal and Public Information Officer Payton Rogers says the fundraiser is something close everyone’s heart at the department and so far, it has already been so successful that they have ordered more shirts to meet demands.
The first shirt the department ever sold for the fundraiser in 2014 was a pink shirt, and before this year’s shirt sale they had not brought back pink shirts since. Rogers says he thought it would be a great idea to bring back the pink shirts for the tenth year of the fundraiser.
Department Secretary Patsy Bell and Administrative Assistant Melinda Moore created the shirt design. The front of the shirt features a department logo with a pink ribbon and the back of the shirt has the phrase, “Give Cancer the Axe” along with two axes and a fire hose in the shape of a ribbon.
Shirts cost between $20 and $25 depending on the size and can be bought at the department’s headquarters, Gracious Me and Bella Marie Boutique. Rogers says they are hoping to donate the most they ever have to the network. In prior years they have raised around $3,000 and this year Rogers says they hope to raise around $5,000.
In the past, Rogers says the department has struggled to sell shirts for the fundraiser and so he was really excited to have their first order of shirts nearly sell out before October.
All profits from shirt sales go to the network. Shirts will be on sale until October 31 or until supplies last.
