Most beautiful race on Sunday
SPAR Women's Challenge taking place in Joburg this coming Sunday.
ON Sunday, October 9, thousands of women of all shapes and sizes will come from far and near to take part in the annual SPAR Women’s 10km Challenge and 5km Fun Run at Wanderers.
The SPAR race has become one of Central Gauteng’s flagship races, and the number of participants increases every year.
But while thousands of runners and walkers will have a day of fun and laughter, there is also a more serious side to the race – for a number of years, a portion of the proceeds have been presented to the race’s designated charity, Reach for Recovery and the generous cheque from SPAR plays a major role in keeping the NGO afloat.
Longtime president of the Johannesburg branch of Reach for Recovery, Beulah Jankelowitz, explained that the money is vitally important to the non-profit organisation, which is a voluntary support group for women with breast cancer.
“One of the things we do is give women who have had a mastectomy a comfort pack,” said Jankelowitz.
“This comfort pack includes pretty bags to put the drains in, a soft cushion for under the arm, and a temporary prosthesis,” she said.
“We have to buy the material for these, and the comfort packs are among our most expensive items. So we rely heavily on SPAR and the SPAR Challenge to keep going.
“We also assist indigent women with prostheses, because these are very expensive, especially for people without medical aid. Many women need the prostheses to boost their self-image.”
She said all the volunteers were women who had been through the experience themselves and so were able to empathise with women who had just been diagnosed.
“Receiving the diagnosis is always a shock, but we are able to show women that the diagnosis is not a death sentence. I was first diagnosed with breast cancer nearly 30 years ago so I am living proof that the disease can be beaten,” she said.
“Quite a few of us take part in either the challenge or the fun run, and we always have a stand at the race, where people can find out more about breast cancer and about our work.”
Reach for Recovery was first started in the United States in 1952 and came to South Africa in 1967 so the NGO will celebrate its 50th anniversary in this country next year.
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