Bellarine Women’s Network host Pink Ribbon Breakfast

THE Bellarine Women’s Network raised $7,000 for the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) at its Portarlington Pink Ribbon Breakfast earlier this month.

A sell-out event at the Jack Rabbit Vineyard restaurant saw 136 guests dine over breakfast while listening to a talk from guest speaker Nerida Kincross-Smith, a Geelong-based psychologist in private practice with a lived experience of breast cancer.

Karen Coulson from the organising committee of the Pink Ribbon Breakfast said a combination of ticket sales, mystery envelopes and raffle helped achieve the donation figure for the NBCF and “well exceeded the organising committee’s expectations.”

“The NBCF is the only national body that funds life-changing breast cancer research with money raised entirely by the Australian public,” Ms Coulson said.

“Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australia…its incidence is increasing, with 1 in 7 Australian women and 1 in 675 Australian men expected to be diagnosed in their lifetime.”

The National Breast Cancer Foundation is working against this growing prevalence and has set itself a goal of zero deaths from breast cancer by 2030.

Ms Coulson said it was through fundraisers like that of the Bellarine Women’s Network that are helping the NBCF to achieve its ambition.

“Research is the only way to prevent deaths, and improve how breast cancer is diagnosed, managed and treated,” she said.