Shamrocks Raise Over $5,000 to Help Fight Breast Cancer
March 3, 2008

The students at Saint Patrick High School raised over $5,000 for the Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization with a “Think Pink” initiative last week. The Saint Patrick Staff purchased and donated a total of 470 pink t-shirts. The shirts were then sold to students and faculty for $10, with head basketball coach Mike Bailey and his family adding $1 for each shirt sold. Students were able to wear the shirts to school last week, without violating the school dress code. Everyone was encouraged to wear pink shirts for the Shamrocks’ IHSA State Playoff game against Lincoln Park on Wednesday, February 27.

The shirts sold out, and the basketball game was a huge success as far as raising awareness of breast cancer. The student cheering section was filled with students in pink shirts. Coach Bailey wore his pink shirt over his traditional shirt and tie. The basketball players wore their pink shirts in place of their traditional warm-up tops, and the Shamrock Band was decked out in their pink shirts as well.

Saint Patrick is Chicago’s oldest all-male Catholic high school, and the Shamrocks understand the importance of increasing awareness of a disease that is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women in the United States, taking the lives of over 40,000 women per year. The American Cancer Society estimates that over 182,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year.

Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization is a Chicago-based national nonprofit organization with the mission to ensure, through information, empowerment and peer support, that no one faces breast cancer alone. Y-ME does not raise money for research. They are there today for those who can’t wait for tomorrow’s cure.

For more information, visit www.y-me.org.