The Eta Xi chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. will sponsor Breast Cancer Awareness week from noon-2 p.m. daily, Oct. 27-31, in the UC next to the Food Court.

The sorority will provide information about breast cancer and take monetary donations. All donations will be contributed to The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Search for the Cure.

“October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month, and it is important that we acknowledge it,” said Tiffany Trice, Eta Xi president.

“The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation has worked diligently for 21 years to educate, advance research, and provide screening and treatment against this fatal disease,” she said.

“Delta Sigma Theta is a public service organization,” Trice remarked. “It is the chapter's responsibility to fulfill the sorority's mission. An aspect of our mission is to promote good physical and mental health throughout our campus and in the community. As a sisterhood of black college-educated women, the chapter understands the significances of this month.

“We want to help fight in finding a cure for this life-threatening disease. The way for the sorority, campus and community to do this is by giving financial support and gaining more knowledge about breast cancer,” Trice said. “The chapter urges every student, faculty member and staff to give their support any way they can. This disease not only affects those that have it. It affects us all.”

“Everyone has a sister, a mother, a daughter, a grandmother, a co-worker or a college roommate who has battled or is battling breast cancer. Breast cancer is not a rare disease. It touches everyone, and it has touched me,” said Susan Braun, Komen Foundation president and CEO, on the organization's Web site. Braun stressed the fact that breast cancer is the most common form of cancer among women living in the United States today.

The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation was established in 1982. Nancy Brinker, founder, named the organization after her sister. Since her sister's death in 1980, Brinker has dedicated her life to save other women from the pain that her sister and her family suffered.

According to the foundation's Web site, www.komen.org, “Since 1982, the Komen Foundation has been working to educate and empower women to take care of their health and to sponsor research to eradicate breast cancer as a life-threatening disease.”

Braun explained on the Web site that the Komen Foundation provides millions of dollars in research grants each year to help find a cure for this disease. The Komen Foundation was the first organization to fund the research that led to the discovery of two specific genes that are known to be involved in breast cancer.

According to the Web site, the foundation provides a number of special educational materials, corporate partners and supporters who contribute in other ways, as well as financially.

“After 20 years as a foundation, there is still a great deal we don't know about breast cancer. But there is also a great deal we do know, and the gap between the two grows smaller each day thanks to you, the passionate individuals who have joined us in our promise to work to end breast cancer once and for all,” Braun said. “You are supporting our research. You are helping us find better ways to screen and to reach out to more people. You are helping us so that one day a cure for breast cancer will be found and for this, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”

Delta Sigma Theta will be distributing ribbons and literature about the disease, as well as accepting donations. All support is greatly appreciated.