White Plains Firefighters Care Enough to Wear Pink

Local firefighters are pretty, or rather handsome, in pink this October in celebration of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

White Plains Professional Firefighters Local 274 is bringing awareness to the disease by wearing pink t-shirts with their special logo—which read "Care Enough to Wear Pink," from Oct. 9 to Oct. 23.

“Unfortunately you’re hearing more and more people being affected by breast cancer,” said Tom Glass, Local 274’s assistant secretary treasurer. “If it is detected early enough it [complications and the spreading of the cancer] can be prevented."

So far, Local 274 has raised about $8,000 for Sole Ryeders and Friends, a Rye-based breast cancer organization, by selling the t-shirts. More than 300 shirts were sold the . T-shirts are still available for $25 by leaving a message through Local 274’s website or Facebook page.

“It was so generous of White Plains firefighters to think of our organization and give back locally with the proceeds from their special pink t-shirts,” said Sole Ryeders founder Sandy Samberg.

Sole Ryeders & Friends began as a group of women from Rye who raised money to walk in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. The group now also raises money for grants they offer to local organizations that provide care and services to those affected by breast cancer, like based in White Plains.

“We’re really happy with the support we got from members and their families, as well as everyone buying our shirts at Oktoberfest,” said Glass. “We want to let people know that this cancer not only affects women, but men as well. We’re trying to spread the word that this is unfortunate, and do whatever we can to help raise money for the cause.” 

According to the American Cancer Society’s 2011 estimates, there will be about 2,140 new cases of invasive breast cancer in men, compared to 230,480 new cases in women. About 450 men will die from breast cancer in 2011, compared with 39,520. Men are 100 times less likely to get breast cancer than women, and have about a one in 1,000 chance of being diagnosed in their lifetime, while one in eight women will develop invasive breast cancer in their life.

“Thanks to organizations like the White Plains Professional Firefighter Local 274, we recently hit our $1 million milestone for raising funds for the Avon Foundation and our Sole Ryeders Funds since our inception in 2007," said Samberg. "We wouldn’t be where we are today without the incredible support that we’ve received from our communities.”

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