Minority Outreach

Breast cancer is the second leading cancer in women and each year over 215,000 women develop invasive breast cancer. The Affiliate area serves a culturally diverse community. According to the 2003 North Carolina Women’s Health Report Card, breast cancer deaths for minority women is 41.5% (per 100,000 women) as compared to 29.9% of white women. African American women as well as other minority and low-income women in rural areas tend to underestimate the importance of screening and early detection, and are less likely to practice self-breast exams.

Although minority women are less likely to develop breast cancer than Caucasian women, they are more likely to die from the disease. Over the last decade, death from breast cancer has been steadily decreasing…except among minority women.

Sister 2 Sister is an all volunteer, non-profit organization consisting of Minority breast cancer survivors and other members of the community dedicated to doing something to stop this disturbing trend. Established in Jul 2002, Sisters to Sisters has had tremendous success by reaching and educating
over 1024 minority women over the 18 months.

The goal of Sister 2 Sister is to provide education and raise awareness of breast cancer within the Minority communities. We also hope to help break down any racial or cultural barriers through education, support and access to medical treatment regardless of a person’s ability to pay. minority women are our primary focus group because of the prevalence and life threatening trend of the disease in those communities.

Sister to Sister is a two-part program. The first being an educational component provided through “Sister Parties”.

These are not your regular parties… Sister Parties can save lives. The “Sister Party” is based on the Mary Kay or Tupperware concept of having party hostesses and providing incentive gifts to those hostesses but instead of selling cosmetics or kitchenware, breast health education is conducted.
The main focus of these educational forums being that of early detection and how to lower controllable
risk factors by changing lifestyle habits such as diet and exercise. Women attending these sessions who need mammograms will be directed to facilities in their communities that will provide this service, regardless of their ability to pay.

Sister Parties are designed to be informal events that are held in places where women are most comfortable. The majority of our Sister Parties have been hosted by the community churches. However, many indivuals have hosted parties in other locations such as private homes, recreation centers, beauty salons and even a mobile party held on a bus tour to a well-known shopping outlet in Georgia. There is no cost for Sister 2 Sister to present a program at your church or other preferred location and refreshments are provided for all who attend. If you are interested in hosting a Sister Party, please contact us.

The second part of Sister to Sister is a Support Group (Link to pdf. Titled support Group) that focuses on the physical as well as the spiritual aspects of healing after being diagnosed. The support group is mobile and will rotate from county to county each month, so that any woman who would like to participate will have that opportunity.

Through monthly support group meetings we have built a network of minority women in each county to assist women immediately after their diagnosis, during their treatment and recovery period. Sisters to Sisters would like to provide this education and support to as many minority women as we can reach.

We need your help to continue integrating this program into the minority communities. We want the
steps to early detection of breast cancer to become a familiar subject in every minority household. Again… breast cancer death rates are declining around the world except in our communities and we
want to empower other minority women and men to pull together to help save the lives of the women in our lives - our mothers, our daughters and our sisters. Together we have the power to save lives.

For more information on Sister 2 Sister or to schedule a party, please contact us at
828-390-3530 (mobile), 315-5850 or you may email us at sister2sisterbhg@aol.com
or shemoore64@aol.com.