More than 100 people came out to support the flag raising symbolizing the difficult battle against breast cancer.        Glover photo

Kory Glover
Villager Staff
EMBRUN – Residents gathered at the Russell Memorial Building Fri., Sept 28 to raise a flag to symbolize a fight that too many loved ones have to endure every year; the fight against breast cancer.

October is the official month for breast cancer awareness and to honour the ones battling the illness and the ones who have lost the battle, the community is organizing a number of events to help raise funds towards breast cancer research.

“We raised the breast cancer flag in honour of breast cancer month, October is breast cancer awareness month,” said Marie Claire Ivanski, speaker at the event. “So, we gathered our friends, our families, our survivors in celebration of breast cancer awareness month. We want to honour the taken and encourage the ones in battle, we want to bring everyone together to let them know that they are not alone in this fight.”

On Sat., Oct. 13, an event called Local Flavours, hosted by the Russell Municipal Township, will take place at various locations including Town Hall, Foodland, PharmaChoice and more, allowing residents to take part in tasting different beers, wines and foods. On Tues., Oct. 23, a bingo will be organized by Friends for Life.

Finally, On Sat., Oct. 20, Ivanski will organize Wellness Day at the Embrun Recreation Centre to help guide people onto a healthier lifestyle.

“We’re trying to bring people together and say, ‘We really need to maybe eat a little bit better, be more proactive with our general health,’” she said. “I’ve been thinking about this idea for about three years, I’m doing everything to say that we’re going to find a cure but we have to find a cause. I think that eating better, exercising a little bit more, trying to reduce some of the sugars that we consume will lead to an overall healthier lifestyle.”

Ivanski is always overwhelmed by the turnout of support her event receives every year and hopes that the support will continue to grow as the years go on.

“I would like to thank everyone for their support. It’s amazing how many people come out to give their support and how many people there are in our community that are there for us,” she said. “We have a lot of activities in this particular month but we do things that happen all year and we try to jam pack it to bring awareness to October.”