The Pink Ribbon Trailblazers, a local non-profit organization created by Patricia Nolf, has paid for 1,500 mamograms to this date.
Each mammogram costs $108.
Volunteers for the organization presented The St. Joseph Mercy Oakland Breast Health Services with a $35,000 donation check this fall from fundraising in 2013. Over the years Trailblazers has donated a total of $165,840 for mamograms given to women without insurance.
Nolf, a Lake Orion woman who has won three battles of cancer, started the organization in 2007, collecting $13,300 right off the bat.
At first she fundraised through a yearly walk/run/bike ride on the Polly Ann Trail in Oxford. Now, not only do the Trailblazers fundraise with the Trail event, grants are captured and many other individuals and groups fundraise for them.
The Oakland Hills Country Club donated over $23,000 from their event ‘Friendship Day.? One local cancer survivor donated a check of $2,500. Paint Creek Country Club’s ‘Pink Day? provided funds, along with Oakland County L. Brooks Patterson’s donation of $1,000 from their ‘casual day? fund. Individual large donations of over $1,000 from Whole Foods and other organizations like the Clarkston Eagles are more examples of generous community members fundraising for Nolf’s organization.
The Clarkston Eagles donate funds from their spaghetti dinner. Mary Pride was a member of the Eagles and discovered a lump in her breast a few years back. She had no insurance and no way of receiving a free mammogram. By the time Mary found a job with benefits, it was too late. The first mammogram in 2014 will be in memory of Mary Pride as the Trailblazers has done in the past. Nolf thanks Mary’s family for attending the fundraiser each year, and is looking forward for fundraising in 2014 as the honored recipients of the dinner held on January 18. More details will be available on the website in mid December. Your donation of $10 entitles you to a salad, spaghetti, rolls and desert. Entertainment will be by Lisa D & E who performed at thePink Ribbon Trailblazers ‘Boobiefest’ held last December at Paint Creek Country Club, with some auction items for sale.
To find out more about the Pink Ribbon Trailblazers, their cause, and information on donations, go to www.pinkribbontrailblazers.com, where you can also purchase a calander of breast cancer survivors, five from Oxford this year and two from Lake Orion, their mantras and experiences depicted on every page.