This past October, New Trier Girls Cross country raised close to $12,000.00 in support of the breast and ovarian health organization Bright Pink.

Bright Pink, founded by Lindsay Avner in 2007, seeks to educate and inspire women of all ages in order to spread awareness and reduce the risk of breast and ovarian cancers.

Manager of Marketing and Partnerships, Lindsay DeThorne describes the organization’s mission. “Bright Pink is saving women’s lives from breast and ovarian cancer by empowering women to live proactively at a young age,” DeThorne said.

The girls cross country team had wanted to choose a non-for-profit that the whole team could relate to, eventually selecting Bright Pink as their charity of choice. Hannah Wineman, senior and captain of the girl’s cross country team explained, “Today, one in eight women will be faced with breast cancer, so this disease is one that will directly impact each of our lives, if it hasn’t already. I think the team took this to heart, and that’s one of the reasons we were so motivated.”

Juliet Gunther, senior and captain of the cross country team, said, “I got emails from parents saying ‘thank you so much for raising money for this organization, we were touched by breast cancer in some way, so this means a lot to us.’”

Bright Pink is important to the community as well as the team. John Burnside, girls cross country coach, said, “Dealing with breast and ovarian cancer obviously effects this community of young women athletes, and from there, they really took the reigns and organized the fundraising end of it.”

The team originally set their goal low, especially since they had never attempted a fundraiser before. As they continued to fundraise, their goal kept increasing. At the end of the allotted time, they had raised $11,780.

“Within half a week, our total was triple our original goal. Seeing how inspired everyone was by the cause and to collect so many donations was one of my favorite parts,” Wineman said.

The fundraiser itself was driven by the members of the team themselves.

“As a coach, I just sat back and facilitated so that they would have the arena to do this,” Burnside said. “Once the plan was put in place, the girls really pulled through and made sure everyone was involved.”

Not only did the fundraiser go smoothly, it also worked as a way to bring the whole team closer together, especially in a sport like running, which is more individual. “Our team is so big, it’s hard for us to feel like one team. But this fundraiser made us realize that if our gigantic team comes together, we can make a huge difference,” Wineman said.

The fundraiser’s unofficial end culminated in an event where the team as a whole ran 800 miles in one day, around four or five miles each, getting pledges and dressing up in all pink.

“We came up with the idea of this event, where you run 800 miles in a single day, and we got girls at both campuses involved. To see the entire team show up in pink to do this was amazing,” Burnside said.

Burnside cited the way the team latched onto this idea, and how they were so motivated to raise money and spread awareness as the proudest moment for him. “You never know, when you throw a new idea out there for the first time, what the response will be. To see the entire team really embrace something beyond themselves, for the community was a great moment.”

With the help of the girls cross country team, DeThorne said Bright Pink was able to help so many women, educating them on building healthy habits for the rest of their lives: “Through their fundraising efforts, Bright Pink is able to educate over 10,000 women on their personal risk of breast and ovarian cancer and equip them with tools to save their lives.”