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Team WHIP (Working to Help those In PINK) will be doing a walk during the Community Hill Fair hosted by the City of Lanett on Oct. 15. The fair begins at 8 a.m. and the walk will take place at 9 a.m. 

Team WHIP is a nonprofit organization that provides financial, emotional and physical support to breast cancer survivors and education to communities, according to their website. Throughout the year, Team WHIP has events to educate survivors and caretakers about breast cancer and breast health. 

“Our purpose is to promote walking, which is very important to your health,” said Team WHIP President Narfunda Ross. “It is to promote our story which is that we have survived and now we’re thriving.”

Ross said her goal is to advise the community on symptoms, treatment options, side effects and mental health resources. However, their walk is open to all cancer and chronic illness survivors.

“It’s not just breast cancer,” Ross said. “It’s very important to be involved in your community and with your community.”

The walk starts in downtown Lanett at the corner of 1st and N Lanier Street. The distance of the walk has yet to be determined.

Ross said that hopefully there would be hundreds of people in attendance. The first walk in 2015 hosted 250 people. The following year, the attendance more than doubled. 

The organization also helps survivors in need of assistance. In 2015, a former board member told the rest of the board about a recently diagnosed mother of three who was out of work. They voted to provide assistance to her. 

Since then, Team WHIP has been a resource for recently diagnosed breast cancer survivors. The fund can help them buy medicine or groceries or provide gas to get back and forth from doctor’s appointments.

“We are the NOW help,” Ross said. “What they do with that resource is solely up to them.”

The organization started as a single walk event called Walking to Honor Those in Pink. Supporters came from as far as Atlanta, Birmingham and Montgomery to attend.

“We had an outpouring of support,” Ross said. “After the walk, people said we should start a support group.”

Team WHIP is partnered with the Gene Machine, an Auburn University research organization, and the Forge Breast Cancer Survivor Center, a survivors resource. They are looking for more partners and volunteers. 

The Fuller Center is giving out free costumes to the first 100 children to arrive with a parent. The city of Lanett will provide inflatables for kids.