Pink Kayak Crusade – a successful fundraiser
by Sue Mroz of The Review staff
Char Jensema, founder of Project Angel Hugs – a Christ-centered organization, ministering to youth touched by cancer and to their families – says she has reason to feel blessed this holiday season.
Earlier this month, Dr. Andrea Gavin, on behalf of the Aurora Foundation, awarded Jensema a $3,749 check to benefit her Project Angel Hugs organization. The money was raised through the recent Pink Kayak Crusade.
“Our project is growing by leaps and bounds through Facebook and across the country,” Jensema noted. “The added revenue that we received from this blessing will enable us to continue doing our ministry.
“If it wouldn’t be for the local community, we would not be where we are, whether through monetary contributions, or the gifts of time, talent and treasure that people have donated,” Jensema added.
“We feel very loved by this community. This will help us to continue doing what we do for these special children and their families.”
A total of $46,775 was raised countywide in the Pink Kayak Crusade, to benefit the Vince Lombardi Cancer Clinic, Sheboygan; the Sheboygan County Cancer Care Fund and Project Angel Hugs.
A total of $7,500 was raised through the crusade in the Plymouth area. In addition to Project Angel Hugs, the Vince Lombardi Cancer Clinic, Sheboygan, was the other beneficiary of the Plymouth-raised funds.
For Sheboygan, $39,300 was raised and split between the Vince Lombardi Cancer Clinic and the Sheboygan County Cancer Care Fund. Gavin presented the checks to all three organizations that benefited from the crusade.
Katie Henning LMT, owner of Plymouth Professional Massage Therapy, was actively involved in the Pink Kayak Crusade, as its Plymouth spokesperson. The Pink Kayak Crusade was a traveling, informational display and fund-raising initiative that began in August and culminated on Saturday, Oct. 17, at the Sheboygan YMCA.
A traveling full-size, one-person kayak was featured in high-traffic areas of selected clinical, corporate and retail sites throughout Sheboygan County. There ware also informational display boards with the kayak, outlining mammography and treatment-program details.
Pink Kayak cutouts were offered for sale at $1 each. Phyllis Ladwig, Plymouth, a breast-cancer survivor, won the drawing for the pink kayak.
“Phyllis and I were doing a 3-mile walk for breast-cancer awareness at the Sheboygan YMCA the day the kayak was awarded,” Henning recalled. “Phyllis told me she knew she was going to win and had even cleaned out her van in anticipation. And sure enough, she won.”
The crusade’s sponsors were: Aurora Sheboygan Clinic; Acuity; Masters Gallery Foods; Bay Care Clinic, Green Bay; M&I Bank; and the Pink Panthers – a team of women that Henning recruited from the ranks of the Plymouth Professional Business Women organization.
The organizers of the Pink Kayak Crusade, in addition to Henning, were Ron Lorier, manager of advertising and promotions for Aurora Health Care Corporate Affairs and Randy Roeper, vice president of Aurora Health Care Corporate Affairs.
Crusade organizers had two objectives in mind for initiating the activity:
. To raise awareness regarding the importance of mammography.
. To raise funds for Project Angel Hugs, the Vince Lombardi Cancer Clinic and the Sheboygan County Cancer Care Fund.
“I am so pleased that this crusade helped to raise awareness to Sheboygan County about breast cancer,” Henning said.
“I am also happy that the funds Project Angel Hugs received will keep bringing smiles to children and families affected by cancer. It is really inspiring to have Project Angel Hugs and Char Jensema right in our community to help families nationwide.”
