For 10 years, the BATTLE Luncheon (Breast Cancer Awareness To Teach Ladies Early detection) has brought knowledge and hope to women in Winston County.
This week will be no different as the annual BATTLE Luncheon features Marsha Barbour as the speaker.
Barbour, as part of her key initiatives as First Lady of Mississippi, has constantly sought to improve the health of Mississippians. She has been instrumental in the Let's Go Walkin' Mississippi campaign and has also focused on education as an objective. Speaking at the luncheon merges these two objectives well together by educating the attendees on how to have better health through knowledge, awareness and self-examination.
Barbour grew up in Monroeville , Alabama. In 1965, her family moved to Canton, Mississippi, where she graduated from Canton High School. She majored in marketing at the University of Mississippi and received her Bachelor of Business Administration degree in December of 1970.
Marsha and Haley Barbour were married in December of 1971 in Canton, Mississippi. Afterwards, they moved to Yazoo City, Haley's hometown, and raised two sons - Sterling (31) and Reeves (26). Life in Yazoo City emphasized family activities at school and church, and a strong commitment to community service.
Since becoming First Lady, Mrs. Barbour has served as Honorary Chairman of numerous charitable events and causes including women's initiatives and the arts. She is on the Board of Directors of the USA International Ballet Competition held every four years in Jackson, Mississippi, and a member of Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free, an initiative of First Spouses. Joining other first spouses, governors and officials from 49 states, she supports the Internet Keep Safe Coalition or iKeepSafe, a national campaign to teach children the essentials of Internet safety.
Mrs. Barbour received the First Lady Youth Leadership Award presented by Jobs for America 's Graduates (JAG) in December of 2004. Following Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005, she has spent countless hours on the Mississippi Gulf Coast identifying problems and helping find solutions for those devastated by the storm.
With Mrs. Barbour as the speaker and with the annual excitement of the event co-founder of the event Peggy Crawford expects the largest crowd ever to attend.
Crawford is pleased with the idea of the largest ever crowd knowing that more people attending means more people getting the message out on how to battle breast cancer. Her and co-founder Glenda Gregory aim to see breast cancer numbers decrease while survivors of breast cancer increase.
"Our aim has been to raise awareness and the need for self-examination and early detection," said Crawford. "We have raised awareness and aim to continue to do so."
In addition to providing knowledge to support breast screenings, outreach, education and treatment, the luncheon will also provides H.O.P.E. bags - an acronym for hope, opportunity, promise and empowerment - for women attending the event to provide further information on screenings, self examine and how to battle breast cancer.
"We wanted every woman involved in this to know that there are people who care and aim to beat breast cancer," said Crawford.
Most of the items in the bags are provided by Winston Medical Center Mammography Department and put together by volunteers.
For U.S. women, breast cancer is the most common cancer. There are presently an estimated 178,480 new cases reported annually and 40,460 deaths are expected this year.
The luncheon also aims to focus on the fact women can battle and defeat breast cancer with the proper knowledge and early detection.
As part of the program to represent breast cancer is beatable, the luncheon also includes a fashion show consisting of women who have overcome breast cancer.
"With the fashion show we want women to know this is not a death sentence. Women can live a full life," said Crawford.
The luncheon is set for September 27 at noon at Lake Tiak O'Khata. Door prizes will also be given away at the event.
Anyone interested in attending or survivors interested in participating in the fashion show should contact Crawford at 773-3696 or Gregory at 773-5531 or the extension office at 773-3091. Those wishing to sponsor the event should also contact Crawford or Gregory or the extension office.
For information on American Cancer Society programs related to Breast Cancer, call 1-800-ACS-2345 or visit www.cancer.org.
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