The ministry’s team more than doubled its count in the second half of October, carrying comfort and Scripture to women in treatment, in long-term rehab and at home.
By EEW Magazine Online Editors
Each Soon the Cure care package, packed by hand by the ministry’s team, pairs a King James Bible with comfort care items chosen for treatment days, including a blanket, ginger chews and acupressure bands for nausea. (Photo by Empowering Everyday Women Ministries)
Empowering Everyday Women Ministries has given 110 care packages to women facing breast cancer through Soon the Cure, surpassing the goal of 100 it set when its annual awareness campaign opened Oct. 1. The milestone comes ahead of the campaign's Nov. 1 close and marks the 15th year of an outreach that grew out of a song and one family's diagnosis.
Each package holds personal and comfort care items along with faith-building resources and a word of encouragement.
The ministry's team placed the packages in women's hands at local treatment centers, hospital facilities caring for long-term rehabilitation patients, ministry partnership locations and the residences of homebound women.
The campaign had reached 50 packages by Oct. 14, the halfway point, and distributed 60 more in the 16 days that followed.
"We are humbled and grateful," said Mariah Shill, outreach coordinator for the ministry. "Everyone who gave, prayed and shared this campaign helped put 110 care packages into the hands of women who needed them. Seeing our community rally like this tells us how much early detection matters to the people we serve, and we plan to carry that momentum well past October."
Dianna Hobbs, founder of the ministry and editor-in-chief of EEW Magazine Online, wrote the song "Soon" in 2008 and set it aside. In 2011, her mother, Annie Brinson, found a lump at age 60 and was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer, an aggressive form with fewer treatment options. Doctors caught it at Stage 1, and Brinson remains in remission. At her mother's request, Hobbs released "Soon" in 2012. Buffalo gospel station WUFO 1080 AM chose it as the theme of its breast cancer awareness campaign, and the ministry launched its own campaign under the same name that year.
Dianna Hobbs, center, joins fellow walkers at the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk in downtown Buffalo, New York, in an undated photo. (Photo: Dianna Hobbs Facebook)
"Early detection is the reason my mother is still with us," Hobbs said. "We will keep saying that every October, and we will keep showing up for the women already in the fight."
An early diagnosis like Brinson's is the outcome Soon the Cure works to make more common. Black women die of breast cancer at a rate 38% higher than white women, even though they are diagnosed with it slightly less often, according to the American Cancer Society. They are also less likely to be diagnosed while the cancer is still localized, the stage at which treatment works best.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends a mammogram every two years for women ages 40 to 74. Women with a family history or other risk factors should ask their doctors about screening earlier or more often. Those who need a free or low-cost mammogram can find help through a CDC program that serves uninsured and underinsured women.
Soon the Cure returns each October. Readers can request prayer or support the ministry's year-round outreach through the campaign page.
About Empowering Everyday Women Ministries
Empowering Everyday Women Ministries, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2007. Its work includes EEW Magazine Online, Your Daily Cup of Inspiration, the American Alliance for Black Mental Wellness, and outreach providing dignity kits, Bibles, clean water, food and emergency aid. Gifts are tax-deductible as allowed by law.
