Pink Power Initiative Blazes a Trail for Hospital’s New Breast-Care Center
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Maybe it was something in the coffee …
A few years ago, four women held a strategy session over hot java at their local Starbucks. On the table was the need for a revamped breast-care center at Southwest Washington Medical Center, and they were brainstorming about fundraising opportunities. What grew out of that meeting has happily surprised everyone involved.
“Our foundation exists to raise money for the medical center,” says Jean Rahn, executive director of the Southwest Washington Medical Center Foundation. “These women and I were talking about how we’d like to do something to benefit the hospital’s ability to serve women with cancer. All their mothers had died from cancer, and so they were very motivated to do something. We settled on the project of breast cancer, because we needed a new breast-care center as our existing one is tucked away in a difficult-to-find place on the hospital campus.”
And so in May 2007, more than 700 women attended Pink Power Gone Wild!, the first of what would be two Pink Power events to raise funds for a new breast-care center. In addition to the more than $500,000 raised that evening, a $2.5 million gift from Lee and Connie Kearney was announced.
“The turnout was incredible; the evening was wonderful, and we raised a lot of money,” Rahn says. “So we decided to do it again in 2008 and take a completely different approach.”
The 2008 event, Pink Power Strikes Again!, was held at Big Al’s bowling alley, and this time around, a few select gentlemen – in pink ties and cummerbunds, naturally – were on hand to help with traffic flow and other chores. The event raised $815,000 for the center, which at that point was already under construction.
“We didn’t think we could top the first year, but this took a different approach, and it was just great,” Rahn says. “People had bowling teams, and a lot of these women hadn’t bowled in more than 20 years, if ever. It was just fantastic.”
At the end of the day, the foundation was able to generate $4.1 million toward the center’s $5.7 million price tag. The new Kearney Breast Care Center will be a warm, welcoming place for the region’s women.
“There’s a lot of fear involved with getting a mammogram and other treatments,” Rahn says. “This will be easy to get to, highly visible and have the latest technology. It’s going to be beautiful, and we’re just thrilled that it’s happening.”
Pink Power is on hiatus for now, but organizers are planning a comeback.
“We’re taking a year off, but we’ll be back in 2010,” Rahn says. “We’ll have an event to raise funds for another area within the hospital. The whole concept has such force and power that we want to keep it going.”
Story by Joe Morris
