With October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a tribute to raise awareness and honor survivors was held at the International Center on Thursday.
The event, An Evening with Women in Jazz : A Tribute to Breast Cancer Survivors and Supporters, showcased three jazz bands, which both informed and entertained the 100-member audience.
The fund-raiser took place at Crossroads Food Court and was co-sponsored by MSU’s Women’s Resource Center, the Department of Residence Life and the Lansing chapter of the American Cancer Society.
“The purpose of this event is to promote the Breast Cancer Awareness Month and draw attention to the importance of early cancer detection,” said Patricia Lowrie, director of the Women’s Resource Center. “Most importantly, we want to pay tribute to breast cancer survivors who are in every sense of the word our heroes.”
Lowrie said an opportunity to incorporate jazz while promoting awareness was one she couldn’t pass up.
The event, which was also a fund-raiser for the Lansing chapter of the American Cancer Society, featured performances by members of Sisters in Jazz, Straight Ahead and Zrazy.
Kande Ngalamulume, an economics senior and jazz fan, said he enjoyed viewing his first live concert.
“The concert was relaxing, the singers were creative, and it supports such a great cause,” he said.
Although there was no charge to attend the event, donations for the American Cancer society were accepted at the door.
“We didn’t really set a goal for how much money we wanted to raise, so we will accept as much as people are willing to give,” said Audrey Smith, office manager for the Women’s Resource Center.
“With the recent tragedy in New York, I know people are splitting their time among different events they want to attend which are related to the tragedy. I hope they find this an important event to attend likewise.”
Smith, who said she intends to make this an annual event, said the performers decided to participate because they too were passionate about raising money for breast cancer research.
“I’m so thrilled to be here because my love for jazz music and passion for breast cancer awareness are so closely aligned,” said Sunny Wilkinson, a musician and creator of Sisters in Jazz, a mentoring program for aspiring young female jazz artists.
Wilkinson, who teaches jazz voice courses at MSU, also performed.
The night was both entertaining and informative, giving breast cancer survivors a chance to share their thoughts and experiences with the audience.
“Early cancer detection is a long-term responsibility, sort of like flossing your teeth every day or working on a term paper that is due at the end of the semester,” said Janie Fouke, dean of the College of Engineering and a cancer survivor.
“Breast cancer was not on my agenda,” Fouke said to the audience.
“My agenda was cooking dinner for my kids on time and beating my 10K running record. If you do not want cancer to be on your agenda, you must devote personal commitment to early detection.”
Margaret Aguwa, chairperson of the Department of Family and Community Medicine and also a breast cancer survivor, said this year 190,000 women and 1,200 men in America will be diagnosed with cancer.
“That means every three minutes, a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer,” Aguwa said.
Okey Umelo can be reached at umelooke@msu.edu.
