SOPFCA Has Big Plans in 2015

As the Shades of Pink California Foundation looks forward to our third year of supporting women battling breast cancer, we want to take a moment to thank all the people who have been so generous to our cause. That includes YOU!

In 2014, we raised over $24,000 thanks to your generous donations. Every single dollar we collect makes a huge difference in the life of a woman in California. These women are our neighbors, our friends, and our family members who have struggled with the emotional, physical, and financial strain of breast cancer.

In our first official quarterly newsletter, we want to introduce you to Janet, one of the women we’ve been able to help thanks to your donations. We’re also excited to share our goals and plans for 2015 — including some exciting upcoming events. Lastly, we want you to know more about the amazing women who give their time and effort to SOPFCA. Today we spotlight Community Support Officer, Bridget Garwitz.

Keep reading to see what SOPFCA is truly about, what we have in store for 2015, and how you can continue to be a part of our life-changing mission.

Sincerely,

Vembra Holnagel

Marketing Officer, Shades of Pink Foundation California

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In This Issue
Event Announcement Racing for the Pink 5K…more
SOPFCA Member Spotlight Bridget Garwitz…more
Looking Back on 2014 2014 was only our second year of operation…more
Looking Forward to 2015 We have very ambitious fundraising goals…more
Grantee Spotlight Janet…more
How You Can Help How You Can Help A Woman With Cancer…more


Racing for the Pink

FUNDRAISING GOAL: $10,000
race-pink-finish-line

Date: Saturday, May 2, 2015
Time: 8:00 AM
Location: Road Runner Sports
5553 Copley Drive
San Diego, CA 92111
Our fundraising goal for this event is aggressive, but with your help, we can make it. There are many ways you can participate:
  • Donate to an existing racer or team to help them meet their goal
  • Lace up your shoes and participate in the 5k for just $30
  • Create your own team and set a fundraising goal
  • Volunteer at the race to make this a safe and fun event for all!

Visit the Racing for the Pink 5k website now to donate and/or participate.

Of course, you can also choose to donate directly to our cause at any time to help us meet our fundraising goal for 2015.

SOPFCA Member Spotlight
Bridget Garwitz
BridgetGarwitz_web-3

In 2014 SOPFCA hosted a very successful cocktail party fundraiser, held nine different yoga events, held corporate events, and implemented our first social media campaign. Each of these events took a lot of planning, dedication, and legwork. The woman who oversaw it all is Bridget Garwitz, our Community Support Officer and Head of Fundraising.
Bridget is in charge of developing SOPFCA’s strategic fundraising plan and then implementing all of our fundraising initiatives throughout the year. This includes building partnerships with local businesses and vendors throughout San Diego, handling the thousand details it takes to pull off each event, and always keeping her eye on meeting our fundraising goals.
As a corporate real estate agent with Savills Studley, Bridget is exceptionally organized and detail oriented, which comes in handy in her role at SOPFCA. No matter how much we ask of Bridget, she is always willing to go above and beyond to make all of our fundraising efforts a success!
Bridget is a founding member of SOPFCA and is a close friend of Kianne Holnagel. Shortly before SOPFCA was formed, she expressed her desire to Kianne to give back to people in need. When Kianne and Christina Fulcher decided to launch the California chapter of Shades of Pink, Kianne knew just who to call. Bridget has been a dedicated and hardworking board member ever since!
If you’ve had the opportunity to enjoy of any of our past events, you can thank Bridget for pulling it off with class and style!

Shades of Pink Foundation California

Info@shadesofpinkfoundationca.org
vembra@shadesofpinkfoundationca.org


Looking Back on 2014

 

2014 was only our second year of operation, but it was a productive one. We were delighted to give out over $4,000 in grants to very deserving women from funds raised in 2013. We also hosted over a dozen fundraising events, including our spectacular Wear Pink Cocktail Party in September. As a result of the hard work of our board members, volunteers and amazing donors like you, we blew past our fundraising goals for the year raising over $24,000! This money will allow us to make even more grants in 2015, which we are already starting to do. We have a lot of requests from very worthy women who need a helping hand, and we can’t wait to share their stories with you as our grants help them cover bills and costs during their cancer treatments.

Let’s Do Even Better in 2015

 

We are proud of our fundraising and grant giving in 2014, but we think we can do even better in 2015. We have very ambitious fundraising goals, and with your help, we will be able to give more grants and bigger grants in the future because of the work we do this year.
We already have two exciting fundraising events in the works for the first half of the year. The first will be a Happy Hour event, tentatively scheduled for March.We’re still pinning down the details and will send out invites as soon as everything is confirmed. We are really “tickled pink” about our second event, a 5k race taking place on May 2nd. You can learn more about Racing for the Pink 5k and how you can participate in the sidebar.
As 2015 gets underway, we will be bringing you regular updates on our achievements, grants, and upcoming events in each quarterly newsletter. Stay tuned!

Grantee Spotlight: Janet
I wore the breast forms for the first time today, and I felt prettier and more hopeful than I’ve felt in months, and they can be worn in a swimming pool. Yea!
SOPFCA exists for the women we serve, and hearing their stories inspires us to work even harder. We also want you, our amazing volunteers and donors, to meet some of the women who are so deserving of your donations. Here is Janet’s story:
Janet was a self-employed singing and accent reduction coach before her breast cancer diagnosis in November of 2013. As a result of her treatment, she struggled to maintain her business. As Janet’s income feel, she began relying on a combination of her social security payments and credit cards to cover all of her bills.
Between January and July of 2014, Janet underwent two separate mastectomies and soon developed lymphedema in her arms after each surgery. Her reconstructive surgery was schedule for the end of 2014, leaving her without breasts for several months. Janet reached out to us and asked for breast forms that she could wear with her clothes until her reconstructive surgery.
We were very happy to present Janet with a grant, and she wrote us back, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!…I have been too embarrassed to wear a bathing suit because of the appearance (or lack of appearance) of my breasts. Thanks to you, I will have breast forms that will work in a bathing suit and with my clothes. I am so excited and grateful for your help.”

janet

Read Janet’s full story and the stories of our other deserving grant recipients.

How You Can Help A Woman With Cancer

 

We hope that you have enjoyed our very first quarterly newsletter, and that you are as excited as we are for all the great things we’ve got planned for 2015. We also hope that Janet’s story inspired you to continue supporting our organization. Please consider participating in one of our great upcoming events or making a donation today. There are so many women right here in our community who are struggling just to afford the basic necessities of life for themselves and their families while facing difficult and exhausting cancer treatments, including chemotherapy, radiation, and mastectomies.
We’d like to leave you with the Shades of Pink Foundation California mission statement:
The mission of the Shades of Pink Foundation is to provide temporary monetary assistance to women who are experiencing financial distress as a result of a breast cancer diagnosis. Serving California women.

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