There was a ‘pink’ happening in Stevensville on Friday night. Sprinkle Pink, the Aid for Mammography fundraising event that is happening throughout the Bitterroot Valley made a stop in Stevensville, and while the intent was to raise funds and awareness for early detection through mammography, something a little deeper was also happening – an awareness of community. It was probably summed up best by an incident that happened after almost everyone had gone home.
Dominic Paxinos of Rocky Mountain Bank has been a Mammo Man for Sprinkle Pink for the last three years. He began doing this because his mother was an X-ray technician and did mammograms for many years. She saw firsthand how important early detection was and conveyed this to Paxinos. This year, he asked her to make a quilt for the auction. In four days she completed a beautiful handmade quilt. That quilt was auctioned off Friday night and Dan Severson of Valley Drug bought the quilt. Severson then gave the quilt back to Paxinos’ daughters, Addie and Sydney. The girls, following their father’s example, gave the quilt to Eric Hayes of the Blacksmith Brewery as a thank you for hosting the event and as a reminder to everyone to help each other.
The event Friday night was the culmination of the Mammo Man contest for 2013, which featured 12 men asking for donations for the fund. Actually there were 13 because Lakeland Feeds came as a pair. The costumes ranged from black tie to tutus with everything you could imagine in between.
Lee Goldman, with his assistant Dominic Farrenkopf, of Sapphire Lutheran Homes, was crowned the 2013 Mammo Man winner. He and Farrenkopf performed an original rap that had crowds everywhere reaching for coins to donate. He said they went to restaurants, high schools, and even bars to get donations. Total donations to all the Mammo Men were $8568.86.
“I was happy to do it for the cause,” said Goldman. “I appreciate the chance to be creative and support the community.”
While the Mammo Men were inside the Blacksmith Brewery, the Stevensville Firemen were outside serving up Burgers for Boobs. Hamburgers and brats were served to anyone who wanted to make a donation. They could also take a sledgehammer to the pink car to ‘Beat out Cancer.’ When all of the figures had been totaled for the evening, more than $7100 had been raised for the Sprinkle Pink Fund. This money, along with the Mammo Man donations, will be matched, dollar-for-dollar, by Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital for the Aid for Mammography Fund.
On Saturday, there were more Sprinkle Pink activities. The Canyons Athletic Club was the scene of a 5K fun run aptly titled Mountains to Mole Hills. Over 100 runners took part in the race. There were also many kids games, face painting and a barbeque. ‘Forrest Gump’ was even there to start the race. This event raised over $2500.
There are still a few events left to participate in and many merchants are still collecting donations for the fund. Go to MDMH.org for more information.
