Bikers Battling Breast Cancer, Inc. (BBBC) (www.bikersbattlingbreastcancer.org), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to raise funding for and awareness of breast cancer in the motorcycle community, has released its schedule of 2013 fundraising events. Now in its eighth year of operation, Bikers Battling Breast Cancer has set a goal to exceed 2012’s $93,000 fundraising benchmark.
“I am so proud to be able to reflect the biker community’s true spirit of generosity and selflessness through these events,” said Lisa Herman, founder of Bikers Battling Breast Cancer. “If these events can convince one woman to have a mammogram who would not have otherwise, then we’ve done our job.”
Bikers Battling Breast Cancer was formed in an effort to rally the support of the generous motorcycle community to raise funds for programs to support education, awareness and early detection, and diagnostic testing. From monies raised at previous events, a fund was established in 2011 at Tanner Medical Foundation as the “Bikers Battling Breast Cancer Diagnostic Testing Financial Assistance Fund” and through events in 2011 and 2012, $55,000 has been added to this fund for assistance with the cost of critical testing, such as stereotactic breast biopsies, breast ultrasounds, computer tomography (CT) scans, positron emission tomography (PET) scans, magnetic resonance imagining (MRI) scans and BRCA genetic testing. In addition to Tanner, other beneficiaries in 2012 included Wellstar, The Breast Cancer Survivors Network, and Piedmont Fayette and The Cancer Navigators Rome specifically with the donation of BBBC’s Pink Kick-Starter, an organizer kit designed and created to help organize and empower the newly diagnosed breast cancer patient. To find out more about the Pink Kick-Starter Project, a registered program of BBBC, visit http://www.lovemyjourney.com. Other past beneficiaries of funds from BBBC events include Saint Joseph’s Hospital, Ed and Dora Voyles Breast Health Center, Northeast Georgia Medical Center, and Bikers Riding For Awareness, Inc., an organization of breast cancer survivors who educate young women in area schools on the importance of breast cancer awareness and self-exam.
Riders, motorcycle enthusiasts, and breast cancer survivors and their supporters can visit http://www.bikersbattlingbreastcancer.org for event registration information.
“Bikers Battling Breast Cancer was started out of a desire to do something tangible to help the women I know battling this disease,” said Herman. “I wanted to rally my biker friends, the most giving people I know, behind this cause for which I have such passion. The result has surpassed my wildest expectations!”
In 2006, Herman decided to organize a few friends for an event to meet her initial goal of raising $1,000 for the Atlanta 2-Day Walk for Breast Cancer. Her idea was met with such tremendous support in the Atlanta biker community that she ended up with 324 bikers and raised $16,500. The 2012 ride brought 874 registered riders from 85 different cities in across the State of Georgia alone and included riders from 9 different states. Total monies raised from all four years well exceed $500,000. Today, Herman’s personal mission to battle breast cancer has evolved into a full- fledged 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which hosts multiple annual fundraising events attracting hundreds of motorcycle enthusiasts from around the southeast.
For more information, please contact Lisa Herman at 678-378-5653 or via email at admin@bikersbattlingbreastcancer.org.