As you probably already know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. It seems the whole world has turned pink in well-deserved support of the lady warriors who fight this devastating cancer. The women in my Birmingham Ladies APA Pool League all know someone who has been affected by breast cancer, and we wanted to make sure we did something too.
This month we had planned to do a bake sale with the theme “Everything Must Be Pink!” We were originally just planning to wear our best pink shirts to the sale when an idea struck us – let’s design and sell our very own t-shirts! We could come up with the perfect idea to fuse both our support of Breast Cancer Awareness, and our love of ladies’ pool. Here’s what we came up with:
Well, the response has been incredible. When we designed them, our far-reaching goal was to sell 100 of these t-shirts. As of today, we’ve sold 149.
I was wearing my T-shirt on a recent trip to New Orleans and a man presumably noticed my shirt (or my rack) and stopped me on the street to ask about it (the shirt, not the rack!).
I put on my best Home Shopping Network voice and explained that I was selling these fantastic T-shirts for my women’s pool league as a fundraiser for breast cancer awareness. Chest out and chin up, I continued: “They are pre-shrunk unisex Gildan-brand shirts, and a great deal at just $13 each for sizes S to XL, and $15 for sizes 2X and larger.”
He pulled out his checkbook, right there on the street, and placed an order for five! Talk about being a walking billboard!
When I went to the post office to mail that kind stranger his five shirts, I needed a box to put them in. The postmaster eyed them as I was stuffing them in the box, and wrote me a check for his own T-shirt, right then on the spot! One of the lunch ladies, who works in the cafeteria at my son’s school, just happened to be in line behind me. She immediately paid cash for one and has since ordered five more!
These t-shirts have brought in more fundraising dollars than any bake sale ever did. We’re thinking that from now on, we’ll keep our focus at chest level, designing a new t-shirt each year for our fundraising efforts.
Humor aside, we’ve gotten something way more important than fundraising dollars out of this experience. I have had the pleasure of hearing stories from survivors, as well as hearing accounts from those who have lost loved ones to breast cancer. It’s a show of solidarity – and something to smile about.
Happy Monday,
~Mary
P.S. We’ll be selling the shirts until the end of the month, and the postmaster is ready and willing to help me ship out more. Email me if you’d like to rack one up….
