ur • Community, students raise cancer awareness The Susan G. Kamen Breast Cancer Foundation had held the Race for the Cure for 20 years, but this fall, the foundation began irs first ever Strolling for the Cure on campus because of the work of Liz Howell, direccor o f alumni and parent relations. Howell said the idea for Strolling for the Cure came while she was on a trip to Princeton University with President David Burks when she saw young famili es walking across campus with strollers. Howell said she presented me strolling idea to Burks hoping to provide a fall outing for friends and families. He agreed, which was the official beginning of the event. The next evem that sparked the idea was when Howell [Ook a group of alumni on a cruise. "One ofthe people had lost a daughter-in-law to breast cancer, and on the cruise, they had On Deck for the Cure, and I juSt kind of pur those twO evems tOgether," Howell said. "I thought we could do Strolling for (he Cure, and people could come with their small children and they could enjoy the stroll for cancer instead of doing a run or a race." Howell then con tacted Sherry McBryde, executive director of the Susan G. Komen Breast Ca ncer Foundation Arkansas Affiliate, who agreed to hold the stroll after getting authorization from the national foundation. On Oct. 28 the stroll rook place with the trail starting at College Church ofChrist, crossing Race Street, then moving through the Harding College arch then com ing through the Harding Universicy arch and back // 1 / to the College Church, Howell said. T he stroll was open to college srudems and alumni as well as the Searcy communicy. "We had one of our oldest alumnus [th e}~]," Howell said. "She came down and they pushed her in her wheelchair so she could strolL" The Bisons basketball team also volumeered their time to stroll as a ream along with their head coach Jeff Morgan. "Something we try to do every year is do some service type smff, and we knew [the stroll) was coming up with Homecoming weekend," Morgan said. "We just wanted to come out and show our support and have a chance to panicipate." Many people could not be in (he stroll itself, but the evem o rganizers found away ro let everyone interested be involved. "We had alumni from allover the world send in names of people who are currently batding breast cancer, people who survived breast cancer and people who were lost to breast cancer," Howell said. "So we made a circle around the survivors who were there, and then we read the names of (he ones who we knew were battling and the survivors and the ones we'd lost, and [professor of business] Randy Mcleod led the prayer." At the end of (he event, about 150 people participated in the stroll and more cl,an $2,500 was raised. The evemwas also featured in USAWeekend's "Make A Difference Day" campaign and the university was to receive a certificate from the publication for its participation. -Lauren Mitchell ' .. Registering for Strolling for the Cure on Oct. 28, a community member and cancer survivor prepare towalk. Through the actions of liz Howell, director of alumni and parent relations, Harding was approved by the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation to host the first·ever event. -Amber Bazargani freshmen I ~_.
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