Save A Sparkle In October

Tropical Financial employees Diana, Amy,
Marylen and CEO Rich Helber all supporting
Breast Cancer  Research by wearing jeans.

October means a lot of things to a lot of people – pumpkins, Halloween, football, and even getting ready for the holidays. It’s also an important month in the fight against breast cancer.  October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.

I thought I was lucky – I’m pretty healthy and have no family history of cancer, so breast cancer wasn’t anything I had to worry about.  Then I met Tiffany, a beautiful young mother of four young boys whom I worked with at my last job.  She was only 28, but had already accomplished so much and had a sparkle about her that you just couldn’t resist.  One day, out of the blue, her sparkle seemed to fade and I learned she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.  At first she wanted to keep it a secret, so very few people knew anything was wrong; beyond the exhaustion young working moms often experienced.  As time went on and the prognosis got worse she opened up about her illness and immediately her co-workers, friends, family, even many members wanted to help.

We started a program called Team Tiffany to allow anyone to donate to her and her family.  Within just one month Team Tiffany raised more than $10,000 in one of the economically hardest hit communities in this country.  It was a true testament to the power of the heart.

Less than a week after the money was raised Tiffany lost her battle to cancer and the money was put into a trust for her boys so they would have a reminder of how much their mother was loved…not just by her family, or friends, or co-workers, but by an entire community.

I’m proud to work for a credit union that values community and is committed to helping others. We have a team that will be walking in the Susan G Koman for the Cure at Bayfront Park in Miami on October 20^th. The entire credit union has gotten involved by wearing jeans on Fridays and donating $5 each Friday throughout October to help find a cure for this deadly disease.  I encourage and invite you to find a way you can make a difference this month.

I, for one, would like to see an end to breast cancer; simply to make sure another sparkle like Tiffany’s doesn’t get extinguished. 

^Amy