Superstars: Team 88

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October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a time when people all over the world show their support for everyone affected by breast cancer. Statistics from Cancer Research show that breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in the UK, with around 55,900 new cases every year. That's more than 150 every day. Check out our blog on showing your boobs some love to learn more about some potentially life-saving advice. 

And now, we’re highlighting the efforts of Team 88, who, for their social action project chose to support three charities; Breast Cancer Now, Prostate Cancer UK, and Mind.

When thinking about who to choose, the team felt really strongly about mental health charities, as they all felt the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic themselves, and saw how it affected lots of people around the globe. But, in their group they “also had people whose family members are or have been struggling with cancer, so we felt like we should raise more awareness for both.”

The team quickly got to work and recruited help from their local community. 

“To begin with, we had two of our girls go onto East Grinstead Radio and talk about what we were doing. This got lots of attention!” 

So what were they planning to do? Well, a local cricket club let the team use the venue to hold a pub quiz style night, a bake sale and a tombola. Lila said, “We went into our local town centre and asked shops for donations for a tombola. So many of them were kind enough to give us so many great items.” The team also set up a stall in a shopping centre with information about all the charities, and specifically information about how to check for signs of cancer. 

“We returned to the town centre the next day and did a flash mob in the middle of town to a medley of upbeat, popular songs, to raise the interest of local people and possibly try to raise money. As the choreographer, personally I loved seeing everyone come together and it all work out. Seeing the smiles on everyone's faces made it all worth the while, despite many hot and sweaty rehearsals!” Lila exclaimed. 

For their final stint, it was off to the cricket club for the quiz, bake sale and tombola. “It turned out amazing and we had SO MANY people (and dogs!) turn up. We raised £1001.62 overall, which will be split equally and go to each of our charities.” What an amazing achievement!

For Lila, all the dancing, baking, and quizzing was fun, but, it was the message behind it that meant more; “what we have done will mean that more awareness is spread about signs of prostate and breast cancer, and hopefully more men and women will get checked more often.”

For more information, check out Breast Cancer Now and Prostate Cancer UK. 

WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE WHERE YOU ARE?

Want to carry out some social action in your community but aren’t sure where to start? Take a look at a Changemaker group near you…

And if you’ve already taken part in a social action project that you’re proud of, let us know! Tell us all about it here.