WGTC Raises Money for Breast Cancer Awareness

The West Georgia Tech women’s basketball team donned pink for the cause of breast cancer awareness as they hosted the second-annual WGTC “Hoops for Hope” Breast Cancer Awareness women’s basketball jamboree on Oct. 19.

The event, held at Oak Mountain Academy in Carrollton, raised $625 each for Tanner Medical Foundation’s Mammogram Assistance Fund and local survivor Rosie Holley’s Hope for the Journey Foundation, earmarked for breast cancer awareness, prevention and research.

A special program was held between two of the games with Holley serving as guest speaker sharing her story of surviving the disease that took her mother’s life at the age of 68.

Holley’s Hope for the Journey Foundation is an education and support group for women who are touched by breast cancer either themselves or through someone that they know such as a close family member or friend.

Tanner Medical Foundation’s Mammogram Assistance Fund funds mammograms for area women who could not otherwise afford the life-saving screening.

According to Kathy Mathis, director of the Tanner Medical Foundation, each woman has a 1-in-8 chance of developing breast cancer, and mammograms are considered the best way to find the disease early.

“We are very grateful to the student-athletes and the staff of the West Georgia Technical College Foundation for this very generous gift,” Mathis said. “In the last year, community support funded mammograms for 326 women in our community. This simply could not be possible without the generosity of partners like West Georgia Tech Foundation and the WGTC women’s basketball program.”

West Georgia Tech women’s basketball head coach Kenny Edwards spearheaded the event, which started at noon with a contest between conference rivals West Georgia Tech and Southern Crescent Tech. That game was followed by a WGTC men’s basketball intrasquad scrimmage game.

Southern Crescent and West Georgia Tech played a second game to wrap up the event. West Georgia Tech won both contests over SCTC.

“Breast cancer research and awareness is something that has always been near and dear to my heart,” Edwards said. “Almost all of us has been touched in some way by the disease. I try to promote a philosophy of giving back to the community with our basketball program, and we are excited and blessed to have an opportunity to raise money and awareness through basketball.”