Written by
Beth Farrah, SMT Writer
Cape Girardeau, Missouri – Breast cancer has become an enormous problem for many women across America throughout the past few decades. Scientists and doctors have stressed the importance of getting checked for this common type of cancer but sadly, the process of a mammogram is much too expensive for some women to afford. There are many organizations that help fund recurring problems such as this one, but a local team of girls created their own way to help out with the cause.
Five different female swim teams from Cape Girardeau, Saxony Lutheran, Jackson, St. Vincent (from Perryville), and Poplar Bluff created and sold “Splash Out Cancer” T-shirts in order to help the cause.
"It made me feel like I was helping and making a difference with people," said Cape Central Freshman Josey Powell.
The girls all enjoyed selling the T-shirts and explaining the cause and the importance of their sales. They claimed that what made it even better was that it was their very own idea and their actions that lead to their end result and their success.
The five swim teams raised money for “Dig For Life”, a program at Saint Francis Medical Center that helps donate to women who can not afford mammograms.
The girls explained that once they talked to a handful of people in their very own community about their cause, they began to realize how many people really could not afford the needed procedure and that the cause “hit home” for a lot of them. The more they talked to local women, the more it fueled them to keep selling T-shirts, but they were not just T-shirts to the swimmers. Instead, the girls looked at the T-shirts as a way to help these women continue their lives with less stress and worrying about the thought of breast cancer but had no way of knowing for sure.
Once the sales ended, the five teams totaled their sales and came up with a profit of nearly $1500, which was completely donated to the Saint Francis Medical Center and the Dig For Life program. The girls did not only learn from this experience, but many claimed that they grew from it and that they look forward to doing it again next year.
The other swim teams at Cape Girardeau High School wanted to join in with the cause. The other sports have Dig Pink games and Hoops for Hope games but swimming was a little left out of the loop for breast cancer awareness. The T-shirt sales helped them become apart and help spread awareness not only in their high school, but throughout their community.
