Sisters Lauryn and Camryn Streid and their friend Ally Michaels share a love for swimming. The Illinois girls have been swim teammates for years. While they enjoy perfecting their strokes in the lap pool, on land they share a more difficult experience. Both of their families have been impacted by breast cancer. The Streid sisters lost their grandmother and great aunt to the disease. Ally’s grandmother was diagnosed in 2012.
This bond led them to start Real Swimmers Wear Pink, an annual breaststroke clinic hosted by their swim team that takes place each October. Participants pay for swim lessons; there is a raffle and a bake sale as well. One of the highly anticipated raffle prizes includes throwing a pie in the face of a swim coach of his or her choice. The fun-filled day has led the event to be a success year after year. Since 2012 the event has raised funds for BCRF totaling more than $26,000!
The girls admit the event takes commitment, organization and teamwork – but their hard work pays off.
“Real Swimmers Wear Pink takes a lot of planning. It gets harder and harder each year to do the planning with our schedules and schoolwork, but we never forget the importance of what we are trying to do,” Camryn, 15, told BCRF. “What keeps me motivated to continue this, is that I know we are do something good that will hopefully one day help with getting rid of the cancer all together.”
Camryn’s older sister, 17-year-old Lauryn agrees. “What keeps us going year after year is the thought that with each dollar raised is one step closer to being able to find the cure for this disease,” she said adding, “After starting this fundraiser, you just can't stop!”
To that end, 16-year-old Ally envisions an event that can grow and be sustained for years to come. “My goal is to not only have Real Swimmers Wear Pink continue on as we head on to college but also enlist the help of other swim clubs in the area to help generate even more donations,” she said.
The girls chose BCRF as the event’s beneficiary charity after looking for an organization that suited their goals.
“BCRF was the perfect fit for us. It's a great charity and holds the same values as we do,” Lauryn said. The three girls point to BCRF’s efficiency, CharityWatch “A+” rating and focus on research as other factors that led to their decision. “Breast cancer research is important to us because it's about finally finding a cure so that so many lives can be saved. Breast cancer is such a terrible thing people have to go through and through research we can find ways to defeat it.”
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