DREXEL HILL, Pa. — Dressed in pink T-shirts and armed with a $250 check, representatives from the Interboro High School girls’ soccer team recently presented proceeds from a T-shirt fundraiser to the Delaware County Regional Cancer Center, located at Delaware County Memorial Hospital.
Michele Hengey, who heads up the Interboro High School Girls Soccer Boosters, took inspiration from two sources: Crozer-Keystone Health System’s Pink in the Park program and a coworker fighting breast cancer. She saw the Pink in the Park program in action at a Sun Valley High School girls’ soccer match and asked Debbie Simon, director of Healthline Services at DCMH and Pink in the Park coordinator, if she would bring the program to Interboro.
“We held an event,” Hengey says, “and Crozer-Keystone partnered with us, providing information on the importance of screening.” From the girls’ perspective, Hengey adds that “they saw it as more than just playing soccer. They saw the impact they were making by giving back to their community.” As part of the fundraiser, the team donated $5 from every T-shirt sale to the cancer center.
The Pink in the Park program is offered by Crozer-Keystone Cancer Services. Oncology representatives bring breast cancer information to area sporting events — such as high school or township soccer, football and softball games — and talk to attendees about the importance of self breast exams and annual mammography.
“We offer to set up a specific night at one of our hospitals or imaging centers for the entire organization so that family and friends can come together to have their mammograms,” Simon says. “We offer refreshments, a gift and relaxing atmosphere where they are surrounded by people they know. It actually turns into a social event for many of the groups. We have screened women at these special mammogram events who have stated they would not have gone if this opportunity had not been available.”
Crozer-Keystone Cancer Services’ Pink in the Park program is available to local schools, boroughs and townships. Please contact Debbie Simon at (610) 284-8158 or[email protected] for more information.
###
Photo caption: The Interboro High School girls’ soccer team recently presented a $250 donation to representatives from the Delaware County Regional Cancer Center.
