Lake Houston area’s In the Pink shifts to online fundraiser amid pandemic
Amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, the In the Loop campaign will replace the yearly In
Amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, the In the Loop campaign will replace the yearly In the Pink of Health Luncheon to raise money for Project Mammogram, which helps uninsured people receive free breast cancer screenings and services.
As the primary fundraising event for Project Mammogram, the annual In the Pink of Health Luncheon celebrates survivors, remembers those who are lost and offers a time for everyone to contribute in one way or another. The fundraiser last year was a bustling event lined with pink that featured large gift baskets for bid, a corner shop, an enormous ballroom filled with banquet tables and topped off with a server in a champagne flute dress handing out glasses and posing for photos.
Meanwhile, In the Loop is a virtual campaign that encourages Lake Houston area residents to support Project Mammogram. It will end on Dec. 31 and will be followed by a “Lighter Shade of Pink Celebration” for the campaign in Jan. 2021.
Brooke Baugh, a consultant for the Northeast Hospital Foundation, is the primary event planner for In the Pink of Health luncheon. She said this year, the risks of the coronavirus caused them to make the decision early on in the pandemic not to hold an in-person event. Luncheon co-chairs Cristi Cardenas and Carol Prince felt early on that they should begin to look at other options, according to Baugh.
“So we canceled the luncheon and strategized on what this giving campaign would look like and how we would keep our committee engaged and how we would keep our donors engaged,” Baugh said. “Because what we did know for sure is that more and more women were going to find themselves in need of mammogram screenings with people losing jobs, without insurance, loss of insurance, under-insured, and the things that come along with the economic impact that we have all experienced since coronavirus.”
Last year, In the Pink of Health raised just over $100,000. Baugh said they hope to surpass that number this year, especially given the fact that an anonymous donor has offered to match unlimited donations dollar to dollar though the end of December. They have already raised $37,000 in pledged and paid commitments for the In the Loop campaign, which kicked off around the end of the second quarter.
By donating $150, which is about the cost of a screening mammogram, then it’s essentially supporting two screenings for the price of one, Baugh said.
“That is a huge, huge gift, and I think that makes people want to give more,” Baugh said.
In addition to their online In the Loop fundraiser, there will be an additional “In the Loop Pink Christmas Virtual Online Auction” from Dec. 6-12 in lieu of the auction typically held at the luncheon.
To make a donation or learn more about Project Mammogram, visit https://www.northeasthospitalfoundation.org/.