Breast Cancer Awareness – Valley Girls & Guys

At Summit Salon Academy in Tacoma, we take pride in not only providing our students with comprehensive education in the business of beauty, but also offering students the opportunity to align their careers with causes that impact their communities.

During the month of October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness month, we are pleased to highlight some amazing organizations that we have the privilege of working with.

This week, we are featuring Valley Girls & Guys.

Valley Girls & Guys’ mission is to “Harness the power of community to support cancer patients.” and has established and/or supports the following programs:

• Blankets of Comfort & Hope: Provide
  personalized blankets to any/all individuals
  going through any type of cancer treatment.
  The blankets are sent FREE to the patients.
• Scholarships: We provide scholarship to
  Seniors in High School whose lives have been
  affected by cancer.
• Camp Kesem: This organization helps children get through
  the trauma of seeing a parent or loved one go
  through cancer treatment or losing a loved one
  to cancer.
• Hope In Your Heart: We sponsor Cancer
  Support Groups each month.
• WHO Dreams: We’ve granted seven WHO
  dreams to terminally ill cancer patients.
• H.O.P.E.: (Helping Oncology Patients w/
  Everything). A patient assistance fund at UW Valley Medical Center.
• Research: Funded Immunotherapy,
  High Risk Leukemia, Ovarian & Breast Cancer
  Trials at Seattle Children’s Hospital and Valley
  Medical Center.

In 2007, Tina McDonough put together a team to participate in a 3 day walk to raise money and awareness for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk for a Cure. Tina and her team walked 60 miles in support of her friend, Michelle Brown, who passed away from cancer later that year. Their team was the largest and raised three million dollars. To date, Valley Girls & Guys has raised over six million dollars.

Their efforts expanded beyond Walk for a Cure, and in October of 2014 officially became a 501(c)3 non-profit. Valley Girls & Guys sends blankets of “comfort and hope” all over the world, and have mailed or delivered 1788 blankets to children as young as one year old to patients as old as 92. Each blanket is personalized with the patient’s name, photo, and a message of hope with a quote from Audrey Hepburn – “Nothing impossible. The word itself is ‘I’m Possible’”

To learn more about Valley Girls & Guys, make a donation, or request a blanket for a patient in need, please visit our website.