PAMPER ME PINK: Raising money for a cure

Oct. 25 is a date Joanne Durr will never forget.

The Culpeper resident was diagnosed with breast cancer that very day in 2006.

And on the fifth anniversary of her diagnosis, which was Tuesday, the 56-year-old married mom spent the evening sharing her journey with hundreds of local residents.

“This date is kind of surreal for me,” said Durr, who moved to Culpeper from Gettysburg, Pa. with her husband, David, in 2007. “It was five years ago today that I was told that I had breast cancer.”

Nearly 500 people — donning pink shirts, pink ribbons and pink scarves — gathered inside Germanna Community College’s Daniel Technology Center Tuesday for the annual Pamper Me Pink fundraiser.

Co-sponsored by Pepperberries and the Culpeper Regional Health System, this event raises money and awareness for breast cancer.

Sharon Clark, who initiated this annual gala six years ago and the owner of Pepperberries, said she wanted to give back to the community. After the first year, Clark decided to partner with an organization that would collect the money and distribute it to local residents — who couldn’t pay for mammograms — to help pay for the screenings.

“We partnered with the hospital five years ago and this is what has become of it. This is absolutely amazing,” Clark beamed. “We have provided over 50 mammograms in our community at no charge.”

Jeanie Raven, a waitress at the Frost Café, was this year’s recipient of the Pamper Me Pink mammogram fund. The mother-of-two, who received free mammograms and other preventative procedures, shared her gratitude with the crowd during Tuesday’s event.

“Each year, I would go through the nagging concern of knowing that I needed to get a mammogram and not being able to afford the costly procedure and not having insurance was a burden,” said Raven. “I’m so grateful for the Pamper Me Pink program. Knowing that you need to have a mammogram is frightening for a woman. Knowing that you need another mammogram and you can’t afford one is terrifying.”

Lee Kirk, president and CEO of CRHS, announced that the hospital in conjunction with the University of Virginia Medical Center will open a new satellite breast cancer clinic in January.

“I just think that is tremendous and it’s about convenience that will offer easy access care to individuals that we serve,” he concluded.

Dr. Anneke Schroen, a surgical oncologist at the University of Virginia Medical Center, who will work at the new breast cancer clinic in Culpeper, talked about cancer survivorship and how it’s a team effort.

“Providing good survivorship care takes a lot of people to do that well [and] it is really important. It’s a big, separate part of people’s treatment,” she said. “We just need to do a good job of being able to provide that kind of care consistently, efficiently and effectively.”

Pink balloons, pink napkins and yellow and pink confetti decorated the multipurpose room as vendors bordered the entire room.

Free pampering stations featuring vendors providing back and neck massages, hand waxing treatments and DermaScan screenings stayed busy.

Before the presentation, guests enjoyed meatballs, satay chicken, vegetables, lemon pastries and brownies with pink M&Ms.

Toward the end of the event, community members presented two oversized checks worth more than $5,600 to the CRH Foundation specifically for the Pamper Me Pink program. Tennis for the Tatas gave $1,348 and Golf for Second Base donated $4,268. CRH Foundation representatives said these amounts are not final and are still growing.

Culpeper Football Association also gave nearly $1,000, according to CFA President Chris Settle.

Raffles and cookbook sales also helped raise nearly $3,000.