City firefighters wear pink for breast cancer awareness
By Matt Caulder
Published in News on October 16, 2013 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Dwight Boswell and Capt. Jason Singleton set up for a training drill at the Goldsboro Fire Station on Center Street on Tuesday afternoon. Firefighters from the Goldsboro Fire Department are wearing and selling pink shirts to support breast cancer awareness.
Goldsboro's firefighters are sporting a new look this month, pink T-shirts to raise awarness as well as money for breast cancer research.
The firefighters are allowed to wear the T-shirts all month, which read, "GFD Committed to Life Safety" in place of their usual uniforms.
"It's a great initiative to be a part of in the community," Goldsboro Fire Chief Gary Whaley said. "The firefighters have enjoyed it and I think it's a little funny to see them going around in the shirts. It's for a great cause."
The idea was the brainchild of firefighters Ricky Barnes and David Grice.
"It seemed like a great idea to support so we went with it," Whaley said.
The shirts can be purchased for $20 from Barnes or Grice by calling the fire fepartment's main line at 919-580-4262.
Half of the proceeds of every shirt, $10, goes toward breast cancer research, Whaley said.
October is National Breast Cancer Awarness Month.
It is a month of collaberation between public, private and service organizations to raise awarness for breast cancer.
About one in eight women will develop breast cancer in their lives, according to the American Cancer Society, with more than 232,000 being diagnosed with the disease in 2013 alone. Of those, according to the ACS, about 40,000 will die from the disease -- meaning women have approximately a 3 percent chance of dying from breast cancer.
The good news, however, the ACS says, is that cases of -- and deaths from -- breast cancer have been in decline since 2000, largely because of early detection measures taken as a result of increased awarness.