Since
our inception in August 2011, PurSue Hope, through our Give One Get One program,
has donated 124 purses (up from 33 at this time last year!) filled with gifts
to women: 105 pink purses to women undergoing treatment for breast cancer and
an additional 19 purses for ladies going through other health concerns
individually or within their families. The above figures include 28 pink purses to The
Gathering Place for their annual retreat in May 2013.
October
1st, 2013 marked a huge step for PurSue Hope – our first official distribution
of our pink purses to women undergoing treatment for breast cancer through the
University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center, initially at the Chagrin Highlands
location. We are working toward distributing
approximately 35 pink purses the first Tuesday of every month at this
location. Also, we donated 10 pink
purses to the Pink Ladies of the Pink Carpet Gala October 19, 2013 through The
JD Breast Cancer Foundation (supporting
women diagnosed under the age of 45 years old in the Cleveland area).
This
year has been very exciting in that we have formed many partnerships that have
donated products to be included in our pink purses! We have received so many heart-felt emails
from the recipients of our pink purses, thanking us for reaching out to them,
always as a surprise, and providentially so often at “just the right
time”. We have people who are passionate
about PurSue Hope, both survivors and friends that have chosen to donate all of
our pillowcases, wrapped with love and picked out specifically to bring a
smile. Arbonne International has donated
175 Lip Saver SPF 30 lip balms to us, as part of their desire to be as chemical
free as possible complements PurSue Hope so well. Fellow breast cancer survivors continue to
knit chemo caps and mini prayer cloths to be included so the recipients know
they are being prayed and cared for by those who understand the journey.
We
are hopeful and prepared to provide khaki purses to women undergoing treatment
for breast cancer at a military base in Fort Campbell, KY. A friend of PurSue
Hope has been able to meet with these ladies again and
hopes to deliver the khaki purses filled with our goodies during her next
visit. Many of these women have young
children AND their husbands are either deployed or being deployed for the first
time.
We
also have established a group of GOGO Girls (fellow breast cancer survivors)
who are eager to distribute the pink purses and listen to, share with, and
encourage women when they come in for their second round of chemo (having lost
their hair between rounds one and two) or before her first radiation treatment,
which is also a very scary, anxious and intimidating prospect.
With
God’s help we will continue to do this on a much greater scale in 2014 and
beyond.
Susan Swiger
President, PurSue Hope
