C-M goes pink

COLFAX — Breast cancer awareness month is here and the Colfax-Mingo Spanish Club hasn’t wasted any time getting the word out in preparation for the annual Race for the Cure in Des Moines.

Students entered the junior/senior high school Monday to find the hallways decorated with pink. The Spanish Club sponsors the pink-out event every year, which devotes a week to breast cancer awareness and also builds up to the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K scheduled for Saturday.

C-M’s team consisted of 73 participants last year and Spanish Club president Jacob Lietz said there are fewer sign-ups this year, but he is still expecting a great turnout.

The C-M senior has been a part of the Spanish Club all four years of high school and believes the Race for the Cure and breast cancer awareness week is the highlight of the school year for the club.

“I think it shows everybody that there’s a lot of people in the community and in the school who will come out and support the cure for breast cancer, run and do all this stuff and pay this money to help find a cure,” Lietz said.

Registration was $40 a person, and Lietz said the team ends up raising a good sum of money for the cause every year.

Cancer has affected many people within the Colfax and Mingo communities, and that’s a reason why Lietz has devoted some of his time as part of the Spanish Club to help raise awareness of breast cancer. He said the least he can do is run for 20 minutes during Saturday’s 5K.

“There’s thousands of people at the beginning. People dressed up in pink and they are absolutely happy to be there,” Lietz said. “You see all the people who have fought cancer and they’ve won and are still there to support it. It’s something special. You have to be there to realize it, but it’s something special.”

Vice president of the Spanish Club Katherine Vry has also been involved with C-M’s breast cancer awareness week and the Race for the Cure for four years. She said causes like this one is why she ultimately joined the club.

Club members devoted their own time Sunday afternoon to decorate high school hallways for pink week. They hung signs on the walls and placed colored tissue paper over the lights to make the hallways glow pink in order to raise awareness of breast cancer within the school.

“I can honestly tell you that putting all of the pink stuff up is tons of fun. You meet so many cool people you wouldn’t think you’d get to know within the school system and then at the same time you’re raising awareness,” Vry said. "It’s just showing, even within this small community, we can still make this count and it just means so much for people.”

The Spanish Club is also planning a benefit breakfast on Oct. 17 for former C-M school board member Dr. Becky Maher, who is fighting lung cancer.

“She is super involved with the school. Just knowing that we can do something to even further appreciate her and show her, even though she isn’t much in the school system any more, we still care just means so much,” Vry said. “I can’t wait until Oct. 17 where I can stand there and I can look at everybody and say I spent all of this hard work doing this and this was absolutely 100 percent worth it.”

The breakfast is from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the junior/senior high school cafeteria. All of the proceeds will go to American Lung Association and Dollars for Scholars in Maher’s name.

Contact Alex Olp at aolp@jaspercountytribune.com