Pink is the Word

Product

by Stu Sax

Is it just us or what? Everywhere you turn this month there is pink. Pink ribbons. And pink shirts. And pink mugs. And pink flags. And pink lapel pins. They are in stores and restaurants and gas stations and every place you turn your head. Waitresses wear them. Health care providers wear them. This month, even professional football players are wearing them. Who can take this much pink?

You should! October has turned into a month of pink. And it is all thanks to people like the Cancer Society, Susan G. Komen and…..The Cancer Foundation of the Florida Keys.

More than a decade ago a few loving and caring women in Key West pooled some money to help a friend pay some bills while she was spending all she had to save her life. From that emerged the Cancer Foundation of the Florida Keys (CFFK). That first act of kindness has grown into a non-profit foundation that each month helps on average more than thirty cancer patients who are not only facing personal devastation but financial as well. We became involved nearly three years following the death of Lauren’s younger sister to ovarian cancer at the age of forty-eight. She left behind a husband and two teenage daughters.

Yes this is a sad tale, but the reality from it is that we are not doing enough about it as individuals or as a community. We are blessed with an organization like the CFFK that has no office, no fees, and no overhead. We are totally volunteer driven. We are NOT raising funds for research. We are raising funds for awareness, dignity, hope and LIFE. The motto of CFFK is “What We Raise, Stays” and that is not on the national level or in the state of Florida but exclusively here in Monroe County. While all assistance to patients remains confidential, there is little doubt in my mind that many of you reading this know someone that CFFK has helped and others reading this may be survivors because of it.

So what can you do you may be asking?

Donate.

That’s the bottom line. If you only have a bit of loose change or the price of a beer or burger to donate, drop it into a CFFK canister at locations throughout the Keys including all Dion’s Kwik Mart locations. For additional locations or if you have a business willing to display a canister for collections, call Stuart in the Upper Keys at 305-586-8729 or Dave from Marathon south at 305-304-1132. If your checkbook is fat, make a generous donation to CFFK and send it to PO Box 5816, Key West, FL 33045. Visit our website at www.keyscancerfoundation.org to learn more about what we do and how you can help.

Do it before the end of the month when all that pink will fade away. The cause remains and the ongoing need remains and that doesn’t fade away. Just think about it, if everyone in the Keys was to give just one dollar this month, we could raise enough to help our neighbors and friends with cancer for the next twelve months! Is this too much to ask? Or how about taking that jar of loose change that you have at home and merging it into one of ours? And if you drop your donation off at our boutique in Islamorada by the end of this month, we’ll even treat you to some pink cookies and pink lemonade!

Stu Sax and his wife, Lauren, own Angelika Clothing Boutique at MM 81.9 in Islamorada. This month they are donating a portion of their proceeds to the Cancer Foundation of the Florida Keys. For more information visit www.angelikaclothing.com or call 664-8445.

 

Jason Koler, born in Florida and raised in Ohio, is the “better looking and way smarter” Keys Weekly publisher. When not chasing his children or rubbing his wife’s feet, he enjoys folding laundry and performing experimental live publishing.