For many, Labor Day weekend is a chance to relax by the pool one last time as summer winds down. But 3,500 Charlottesville-area women have a mission this year. They’ll be running or walking the Women’s Four Miler Saturday morning to raise money for UVA’s breast care program.
The Four Miler started 28 years ago, and it’s arguably Charlottesville’s most popular race. Registration closed just 10 hours after opening this year because the race was full. More than 500 women are on a waiting list to participate. And the Charlottesville Track Club sponsors a training program that attracts more than 1,000 participants, including women who can’t do the Four Miler but want to become better runners.
Even UVA president Teresa A. Sullivan is getting involved. She’ll be starting the race this year.
Creative Fundraising Helps UVA Cancer Care
Every year, participants raise more money, and the stories of how they did it get a little more crazy.
One year, a runner who was a hairstylist promised if she raised more than $20,000, she’d shave her head. Her friends and family gave eagerly to the cause, and the hair came off.
This year’s goal is $400,000. According to the Four Miler website, each participant only needs to get five friends to donate $25 each to meet this goal. All of the money participants raise will go to the breast care program.
The money helps us provide:
- Navigation notebooks with information about breast cancer care and treatments to newly-diagnosed patients
- Mammograms, pap smears and other screenings to women who cannot afford them
- Breast cancer education, including assessment tools and breast self-exam instructions, to teenage girls and women
The money also goes into the Cancer Center’s Patients and Friends Research Fund. Take a look at this summer’s issue of PULSE, our philanthropy newsletter, to learn more about the fund.
Share Your Story
Are you running the Four Miler? Get need-to-know race information, including when and where to pick up your packet.
Many women run the race in memory of a loved one or because they’ve survived breast cancer. Why do you run? Leave a comment to tell us your story.