Scrapbook Event to Benefit Cancer CARE Fund

A year ago, a group of scrapbook enthusiasts (they call themselves “croppers”) decided to turn their pastime into a fundraiser for cancer.

“It was more successful than we could have dreamed,” says Bambi Dutton, a registered nurse and house supervisor at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital and a member of the self-described “Dirty Dozen” croppers who came up with the idea.

The 2006 “Cut Out Cancer Crop” attracted 164 croppers from Raeford to Fredericksburg, Va., and raised nearly $11,000 for FirstHealth’s Cancer CARE Fund and the American Cancer Society.

The event was so successful–and so much fun–that the group decided to do it again this year.

This year, however, all proceeds will go to the Cancer CARE Fund, a Moore Regional Hospital Foundation program that provides medication and transportation assistance, prostheses, wigs and other services for cancer patients.

Scheduled for 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17, at the Carolina Hotel in Pinehurst, the 2007 “Cut Out Cancer Crop” will give scrapbooking enthusiasts “12 hours of uninterrupted scrapbooking time,” says Dutton.

“To have all day long to sit and scrapbook is a luxury for people,” she says.

The $50 fee includes lunch and dinner as well as access to a variety of scrapbooking vendors and a “Tool Center” complete with cut-and-die machines, punches, printers and other scrapbooking amenities. Participants are also eligible for five raffle prizes, including a $500 spa package donated by the Spa at Pinehurst.

Dutton promises a special time for a special cause. People of all ages — young people, new mothers and grandmothers — attended the 2006 event. Many, including several members of the planning committee, have been touched by cancer and understand the needs — medical and nonmedical — related to the disease. One is Cindy Mooney, director of the FirstHealth Specialty Centers, whose work puts her in touch with many people with cancer.

“The Cancer CARE Fund is an enormous help to cancer patients,” Mooney says. “Funds go directly to the patients to assist them with medications, transportation and other cancer-related needs. Without this assistance, many patients would not be able to afford necessary medications, etc. The patients who have received support have been very grateful, and it has been rewarding to see the patients receive assistance from the hospital.”

According to Dutton, the Cancer Crop organizers took their cue from the volunteers who organize the annual Blue Jean Ball when they decided to direct all of the event’s proceeds to the Cancer CARE Fund this year. “We wanted more to go there,” she says.

The Foundation is grateful for these volunteer efforts. “The Foundation is especially honored when volunteers step forward to raise funds, because they have seen the value of the Cancer CARE Fund firsthand in many cases, with their own patients, friends and neighbors,” says Rebecca Ainslie, director of Hospitality Services.

For more information on the “Cut Out Cancer Crop,” please call (910) 715-1478.

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