zeta tau alpha

The Zeta Tau Alpha sorority hosted their annual Pink Picnic earlier this month to raise money for breast cancer education and awareness.

This October, the Athens community commemorated National Breast Cancer Awareness Month by participating in walks, picnics and various fundraisers to support victims of breast cancer.

Though college-aged students are not often affected directly by the cancer, organizations used this opportunity to bring awareness to the support and services available for students or their family members who are affected.

The Loran Smith Center for Cancer Support kicked off the month with their annual walk-and-run event, “In Their Shoes,” on Oct. 7 to raise funds that will help support the activities provided by the center.

Lauren Liverman, an oncology social worker at the center, said this year, the event took on a different format by being a 10K run or walk instead of a 13.1-mile run.

“This is a very active town and we did have a lot of great community awareness this year,” Liverman said. “There was definitely a lot of community involvement and I only expect that that will increase [next year].”

Liverman said their practice at Piedmont Athens Regional offers counseling services, support groups, yoga classes and several other quality-of-life classes to cancer survivors and their caregivers.

“Everything we do is evidence-based. Research shows that these programs, these types of classes and interventions, do positively impact the quality of life of a cancer survivor,” she said.

Around the same time as the “In Their Shoes” 10K, the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority hosted their annual Pink Picnic on the front lawn of the Zeta house to fundraise for their national philanthropy breast cancer education and awareness.

in her shoes

On Oct. 7, the Loran Smith Center for Cancer Support hosted their annual "In Their Shoes" walk-and-run event to raise money for the center.

President of Zeta Tau Alpha Caroline Stroud, said around 600 members of the Athens community were in attendance for the BBQ lunch and corn hole tournament that took place.

Alongside the Pink Picnic, Zeta also hosts an annual single-elimination softball tournament, the Diamond Challenge competition, every spring to contribute to the funds that will be donated to their philanthropy.

“This year, we proudly raised over $100,000 to give back to breast cancer education and awareness,” Stroud said.

According to Stroud, Zeta members nationwide have distributed “over 19 million pink ribbons on campuses and at football games to spread awareness, support those in the fight, and honor those who have lost their lives to the disease.”

Another organization, called Bulldogs Battling Breast Cancer, was started by Jay and Teresa Abbot as a non-profit organization to raise money “to fight breast cancer through early detection and assistance to women in need who may not have the resources to get the services they need to fight the disease,” the website said.

Their organization, according to Jay Abbot, was founded in 2004, a year after Teresa was diagnosed with breast cancer. Though the couple originally only planned to host the event once, they have recently celebrated their 13th annual golf tournament as part of their organization.

Jay Abbot said the gold tournament is organized with current football players and coaches each year. The football players will be assigned to a group of three people for the tournament, which gives fans a chance to interact with the players and allows everyone to talk about the reasons they are there to support.

With only two other people besides Jay Abbot and his wife helping administrate the details of the tournament, he said the planning could be a full-time job within itself.

“Everything that we raise goes to help fight breast cancer,” Jay Abbot said. “We have no administrative costs at all.”

The St. Mary’s Foundation in Athens is the benefactor for the Abbott’s charity and received a $85,000 check from the charity the beginning of this year, which will benefit women with breast cancer needing treatment, as well as other technologies being developed to detect breast cancer earlier.

“We do it out of love for Teresa, first of all, and we’re just trying to do something for the community and to help fight this horrible disease,” Jay Abbott said.