Tarrant County Affiliate

The Tarrant County Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure was started in 1992. Joan Katz is a three-time breast cancer survivor, and while she was in treatment for the second time, her friend Rozanne Rosenthal wanted to honor her by having a local Komen Race for the Cure®. Joan was overwhelmed and honored by this gift from her friend and wanted to be totally involved in the process. As soon as her treatment was over, Joan and Rozanne together founded our Affiliate and had the first Race in 1993.

2007 Komen Tarrant County Race for the Cure® and April Snow Break Records
The Affiliate began the celebration of its 15th year with record breaking events. At the Race, the band played "Let it snow" in observance of the first snowfall on a Tarrant County Race and the first area snowfall on April 7 in 69 years. The event that inspired everyone happened during the survivor recognition when the heavens opened up and beautiful snowflakes brought smiles and blessings to all. Rozanne Rosenthal who started our Race to honor her friend Joan Katz joined Joan on the stage for a special 15th birthday celebration, complete with snowflakes. The record that really counts, however, is the $1.5 million raised by the 2007 Race.

New Office Space
Our pink cow has come home. This full-size fiberglass cow which has become our mascot was given to the Tarrant Affiliate by Ridgmar Mall to use at the 2005 Fort Worth Stock Show. After a coat of bright pink paint (kind of a Pepto Bismol shade), she has become a favorite at our Race and at other events. She now stands just outside the doors of our new office space provided by Ridgmar Mall and the Macerich Company. After four office moves in five years, we have stable and beautiful office space complete with the cow that came home.

Third Party Events
The Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo and Texas Christian University are beloved institutions in our community. In the past three years, Komen has had a presence at the Fort Worth Rodeo and Stock Show with special recognition given to survivors at a Pink Ribbon Roundup, and with rodeo contestants performing in pink shirts. In January 2007, "The Stock Show Goes Pink" was a big hit, and our Affiliate received 50 percent of the gate receipts on this special day.

The TCU Pink Out, otherwise known as Frogs for the Cure, has grown into an event that has everyone yelling for the TCU Frogs football team as well as for breast cancer survivors. Last November, a crisp fall day provided the backdrop for the Survivor Tail-Gate party where survivors and their families brought new meaning to tail-gating. The Survivor Spirit Line that cheered the team onto the field and the moving half-time tribute to breast cancer survivors brought a full stadium of TCU Horned Frogs to their feet. We received funds from the sale of special Pink Out t-shirts and a portion of the game tickets.

Noteworthy
In 2007, for the first time, Komen Tarrant County granted over $1 million.

Also, we have been the catalyst for meetings among those in the healthcare community. We have hosted separate meetings with Navigators, Providers and Educators in Tarrant County. Occasionally a topic is of interest to all, and in that case we have invited everyone. For example, in May we will be presenting our Community Profile to the entire group.

These meetings give organizations the opportunity to share concerns and come up with solutions. Providers and navigators now contact each other directly to offer better and more seamless patient care among their facilities. Our Affiliate has brought in outside groups such as transportation providers to help solve common problems. Most important is that because of these meetings, services to the women we want to help are much improved.