Although the month of October is usually associated with scary costumes and candy, it’s important to recognize what else it symbolizes. For many years, October has been the official month of Breast Cancer Awareness. If you’re curious about the best ways to help show your support this season, here are 5 creative ways to help out.
1. Cardio for a Cure
A love of running or walking can be transformed into raising awareness for breast cancer—especially during the month of October. For many years, annual running and walking races have been put on in order to raise awareness and generate crucial donations to breast cancer research. This year, one way to participate is the Susan G. Komen “3-Day Nation”, where participants will walk 60 miles over the course of three weekends during the month of October. The first 50 miles can be completed at your own pace and with your own friends and family. On the final weekend, walkers around the nation will come together to finish the final 10 miles with the hopes to raise as much money for breast cancer awareness as possible! For more information on how to participate visit http://www.the3day.org/site/TR/2021/General?fr_id=2100&pg=entry.
2. Utilizing the Gaming Community
A unique way to participate this month can come in the form of online gaming. With its increasing and continued popularity across many platforms, donations through gaming can be a huge contributor in helping the cause for breast cancer awareness. People can host charity streams through platforms such as Twitch where donations can be collected as players win and participate in whichever game they feel like playing!
3. In October, Pink is the new Pink
The pink ribbon became a symbol for breast cancer when the Susan G. Komen Foundation used the logo of an abstract female runner in their first “Race for the Cure”. The pink ribbon symbolism evolved into a full-on fashion movement that encourages the promotion of breast cancer awareness. This might mean pulling up to your 8am bio lab in a monochrome outfit of pink hightops, pants, and t-shirt may be the most popular look this October. Although this may not seem like the coolest look, thousands of women diagnosed with breast cancer would be cheering you on, because you would be raising awareness for them in a very direct and active way. Although we all don’t need to go this extreme with the color pink during the month of October, any show of support from a pink scrunchie to a suit with a pink tie will help. Remember to have fun if you do decide to show support through fashion, and maybe even post a photo to social media to broaden the scope of awareness!
4. Entrepreneurs to the Rescue
Even if you don’t own a small business, you can still help out this month by using your entrepreneurial interests to help! Newly-created pieces of art or fashion related to breast cancer like stickers, posters, socks, or upcycled thrift store finds can be turned into sellable products. The best part is that you can use the month of October (or any month really) to sell breast cancer related items and donate proceeds to different foundations! Some of these foundations include the American Cancer Society, Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
5. Online resources and Social Media Activism
Finally, a helpful way to create awareness surrounding breast cancer this month is to educate ourselves along with our friends and family. This can be done by gathering fact-based statistics—like how about 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime—to broaden the scope of breast cancer knowledge. Additionally, using social media to post relevant graphics, news stories, and images can make learning about breast cancer and the large amount of funding needed more accessible to the general public.
Honoring breast cancer awareness month is a great way to stay conscious about serious issues that affect thousands of people every day. In addition to showing your support this October, remember that breast cancer is a constant issue and continue to participate in supporting causes for cures in any way you can!