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Footing The Bill To Fight Cancer

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B.C. MANION

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 10, 2008

LUTZ - They're fun, furry and perhaps a bit frivolous - but Fancy Flips are made by women who are deadly serious about fighting breast cancer.

Peggy Bamford, who lives in Lutz, spends most of her spare time these days crocheting yarn around ordinary flip-flops to help raise money for the Batty Boobies - a group of six women who will be walking in the 2008 Breast Cancer 3-Day.

The event, which takes place in 14 cities nationwide, is a 60-mile walk to raise money for breast cancer research, education and community outreach programs.

This year the Tampa Bay event is scheduled from Oct. 31 through Nov. 2.
Bamford and her two daughters, Susan Nolan of Naples and Hollie Rollins of Nashville, Tenn., did the walk in 2006.

"We wanted to take a year off because we thought fundraising every year would be a little difficult, Nolan said.

This year's walk begins on Halloween, and in the spirit of the event's timing, they named their team Batty Boobies.

Each woman must raise $2,200 to do the walk.

Team members knew they could tap their family, friends and business associates for donations, but in today's tight times, they didn't want to rely on that, Nolan said.

"We were looking for something that would give people some value, that they would be happy with," Bamford said.

When she saw some funky flip-flops, she figured that making and selling them might be just the thing to help the women raise the money they need.

"Everybody in Florida wears flip-flops," Bamford reasoned.

Her teammates agreed.

"We buy flip-flops from Old Navy because they have the best selection, the best colors, and they're cheap," Nolan said. "We find that people wear Old Navy's flip-flops. They're comfortable and they last forever."

It takes about 30 minutes of uninterrupted time to fashion a pair of Fancy Flips, Bamford said.

They range in sizes from toddlers to women and come in various colors. A typical pair goes for $15, but they're also offering a red-and-pewter version, inspired by the colors of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Those go for $20.

The flip-flops can be custom-made to accommodate individual preferences.

They also can be made for men - but so far there hasn't been a call for that, Bamford said.

Each pair of flip-flops sports a pink ribbon - a reminder of the cause they support.

Team member Kristine Bamford took several pairs of Fancy Flips to work at Tampa Bay Endoscopy to see if they would sell.

They were an instant hit, she said.

The team also set up a booth at the Fourth of July festivities in Lutz.

That led to a woman from south Tampa donating a huge ball of red yarn and to an offer from Classy Consignment - a shop that recently relocated to the Pasco side of Lutz - to stock some flip-flops in the store.

The Lutz booth also attracted outright donations.

The team didn't ask for contributions, but the women brought pink ribbons and invited people dropping by the booth to write the name of someone they would like to be remembered during the 3-Day walk.

Many who jotted names also kicked in contributions.

Team members will wear those ribbons during their walk.

"One of the things that's important to us is to remember the survivors and to remember people who have succumbed to the disease," Bamford said. "Almost every one of us knows somebody who is a survivor or who has died.

"I had two grandmothers who died of breast cancer. One, I never knew. The other one died in 1950. I can remember as a youngster looking at her. She was a very large woman. She had very large breasts. She was absolutely mutilated. I can remember that distinctly - how awful that was for her - with a hole in her chest."

Nolan gets emotional when she talks about her husband's aunt, Cookie, who died from breast cancer in Panama more than two years ago.

Despite such losses, progress is being made in the war against breast cancer, Bamford said.

"I'm inspired because to have breast cancer used to be an absolute death sentence. Now, it's not. Now, you can beat this thing."

The six members of Batty Boobies are Bamford and her daughter-in-law, Kristine, who both live in Lutz; Nolan; Rollins, and Karen Gangel and Virginia Gremley, both of Carrollwood Village.

Gangel, a breast cancer survivor, is making the 3-Day for the first time.

"About once a week, I look at myself in the mirror and I say, 'What were you thinking?' because it's hard," she said.

Recently, she was walking by herself, spraying herself to keep cool, as she chugged along. It was grueling. But then, she said: "I started thinking to myself: 'It's better than chemo.'"

Raising the funds for this year's walk has been challenging, Bamford said.

"It was a lot easier to raise funds in 2006 than it is now. We're struggling."

"In 2006, I sent out a mass e-mail to everybody I know," Nolan said. "My husband is a physician, so I sent an e-mail to all of the physicians in his group. That was pretty much all of the fundraising I had to do. This year, I've got no response."

The women blame the tough economy.

But the team has found help in other ways.

"We've got a lot of support from the yarn shop in Odessa. It's called Fiber Art," Bamford said.

The owner, Rosalind Moore, helped her get some colors and gave her a price break on yarn.

Some women who hang out at the shop have helped, too.

"Two of the women, when they saw what I was doing, they just took some unfinished flip-flops home with them. and they each did several pairs," Bamford said.

Rina Reynolds, one of the helpers, was glad to do it. "It was fun. I enjoy doing things like that."

Jan Elvira, the other helper, said it is common for the women who gather at the shop to help one another. That's the culture of the place, she said.

In this case, the cause hits home, Elvira said. "My mom had breast cancer."

Rollins is motivated to do the walk by daughters, ages 6 and 2.

"I look at my two little girls every morning, and I think, you know, it would be great if this was something they didn't have to deal with."
BREAST CANCER FACTS

•This year more than 200,000 women and men will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and more than 40,000 will lose their lives to the disease.

•A woman is diagnosed with breast cancer every 3 minutes. Every 13 minutes, the disease claims another life.

•A woman's chance of developing breast cancer increases with age. In the United States, a woman has about a one-in-eight lifetime risk of developing breast cancer.

Source: Breast Cancer 3-Day Benefiting Susan G. Komen for the Cure

FINDING FANCY FLIPS

Fancy Flips, available in various sizes and colors, are available at:

•Fiber Art, 8723 Gunn Highway

•Classy Consignment, 23020 State Road 54, Lutz (at the corner of S.R. 54 and Collier Parkway)

•By e-mailing Batty
Boobies@hotmail.com

They cost $15 a pair, except for the red-and-pewter flip-flops, which go for $20 a pair. The flip-flops can be custom-made in colors you choose. There is a two-week wait for custom orders.

Reporter B.C. Manion can be reached at (813) 865-1507 or bmanion@tampatrib.com.

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