Orrville plans breast cancer awareness event

Published 12:13 am Saturday, September 19, 2015

With Breast Cancer Awareness Month quickly approaching, the town of Orrville is joining the fight against the disease.

For the first time ever, Orrville will host a walk, run and bike event to raise money for the American Cancer Society and make people more aware of the disease.

“We are very excited to have this event. We’ve had other programs, but not one quite like the one we’re having in October,” said Orrville Mayor Louvenia Lumkpin. “We have lost a lot of neighbors, friends and family members to breast cancer or just cancer in general, so we’re very excited.”

Email newsletter signup

The walk, run and bike event is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 24 at 9 a.m. Registration will start at 8 a.m., and all three events are scheduled to end around 11 a.m.

Lumpkin said Orrville has had events in the past to raise awareness for breast cancer, but she is hoping this one will be the biggest yet.

“We want to have at least 100 to 200 participants, and so I encourage people near and far to come and help us open up the doors to people so they will know more about breast cancer and cancer in general,” Lumpkin said.

The idea came when Lumpkin was approached by two classmates, Marie and Brye McMillon, who now live in Athens.

“We participate in a number of events … so we wanted to do something like that in south Alabama,” Brye said. “We went down and saw Mayor Lumpkin and said we would like to do this. She said yes, so what we did was develop a plan.”

Brye said he and Marie felt obligated to hold the event because small towns like Orrville need more attention.

“We just want people to support it. It is not about us,” Brye said. “It is really about the disease itself and the people that need help, as well as to bring focus back to a small town like Orrville that people there need help too.”

Even though the McMillons no longer live in Orrville, they felt a desire to give back to the town that raised them.

“We know of people that have died from cancer there, family members, friends, classmates,” Brye said. “And we wanted to bring something back to the community to help those suffering now and even to prevent others in the future from getting the disease.”

Brye said the event will offer three different events; a one-mile walk, a three-mile run and a five-mile bike ride. After the events are over, there will be a ceremony for people that have lost their lives to breast cancer and survivors.

Each participant is asked to raise $25 or make a donation of $25 as an entry fee, which will include a t-shirt.

For more information, call Orrville Town Hall at 996-9726.