Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Fundraising for a Cause

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and since one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, it is important to be not only proactive but informed about the disease. We support looking out for your “girls!” This month, we’ve taken a look at different aspects of breast cancer—from screening and diagnosis to prevention and treatment, from nutrition and research to supporting people you know battling the disease. 

Last month Haylee Farrar decided to run the Women’s Running Nashville event in honor of her 37-year-old friend Tawna Burk, who she’s known since childhood and is a breast cancer survivor. Haylee joined TeamEdith to raise money for the Edith Sanford Breast Cancer Foundation and explains that fundraising isn’t as hard as you may think: “As soon as someone can relate and put a face to the cause, people are more willing to donate.”

Having fundraised since she was in high school for various reasons, Haylee particularly enjoys raising money through running because, she says, “it’s bringing awareness to breast cancer but it also gives that preventative component as you’re motivating people to get healthy and start running.” It also gave her a little boost in training. “The outside source made me accountable for my runs,” she says.

To get the word out to friends from her hometown in Oregon, across the country from where she goes to physical therapy school in South Carolina, Haylee turned to social media. She also incorporated a creative way to have people more actively engaged in her mission. “For every person who donated $10, they could guess my race finish time. Whoever got the closest got a care package.” Ideas like this—when there’s an additional incentive for the donor—can help make fundraising easier.

Haylee suggests setting an attainable goal. “Sometimes people get tied up in how much money they need to raise” she states, “but it’s more than that, it’s about raising awareness about breast cancer.” Haylee easily raised her minimum amount ($50) and ended up exceeding it by hundreds of dollars to reach her personal goal of $500.

Her advice to others looking to start fundraising? “Don’t be offended by rejection. It’s bound to happen. Don’t get caught up in it. Get out there, meet new people and raise money for a cause you believe in and will help someone in the future!”

Learn more about Team Edith at edithsanford.org.