‘We just appreciate it more than I can say’

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Sherry Boatright and The Kickers present a check for $2,500 to Judy Grissom, Rayven Peak, Jennifer Limerich and the Cullman County Bosom Buddies Foundation at the Donald E. Green Active Adult Center Monday morning, Nov. 18, 2024. (Nick Griffin)

Cullman County Bosom Buddies receives donations from The Kickers, Monograms Plus

CULLMAN, Ala. – Monday was a busy and exciting day for the Cullman County Bosom Buddies Foundation (CCBBF). CCBBF representatives made a couple of stops at the Donald E. Green Active Adult Center and Monograms Plus to accept donations from “The Kickers” and the store.

Board Member Judy Grissom said she is always moved by the support the nonprofit receives from all over the community.

“It is amazing to have them (The Kickers) as a partner because they also dance at our Little Pink Dress fundraiser, so for them to have a workshop just to raise funds for us is an incredible thing. That’s how we survive. We only survive on donations and our fundraisers so for them to take it upon themselves to have a fundraiser for us is amazing,” Grissom said. “We just appreciate it more than I can say. The more money we bring in, the more people we can help in Cullman County. We understand what patients go through after they’ve been diagnosed, and we want to help them with the financial side of that as much as we can.”

Sherry Boatright has been a fixture at the Active Adult Center for over 18 years and as a dedicated dance instructor, she has enriched the lives of 25-30 senior citizens weekly through her classes. Her dance troupe, “The Kickers,” is well known for its spirited performances at local events, including the “Kicking Cancer in Cullman” fundraiser, which Boatright founded as a breast cancer survivor.

“This is our fifth year doing the Kicking Cancer workshop and we raised $2,500. It’s been an awesome thing, it really has. I’m 22 years out from breast cancer so we have several survivors here and I always wanted to do something,” Boatright said. “2018 was our first year and then we missed a couple of years because of COVID but it’s been growing each year. We had over 90 registrations this year and over 80% participated. We’re just so grateful to The Center, to Traditions Bank who has been a great supporter of ours, Stefani Neal, our director, and the merchants here in Cullman have just been outstanding helping us with door prizes and food and things like that. Cullman is a very supportive community, and we look forward to continuing to help it grow and grow.”

After visiting The Kickers, the CCBBF made its way over to Monograms Plus to receive another donation. The money came from this year’s Boobie Bingo fundraiser held on Oct. 22 at St. Bernard. Grissom said she is thankful for all the support the community has shown by participating in these events.

“They’ve been doing it for several years now and they give us the proceeds from that and every year it’s more and more; it’s been a larger amount every year. We’re always so excited when they have that Boobie Bingo to support our organization,” Grissom said. “Every year they have find a larger location and they moved out to St. Bernard this year for the event. We couldn’t exist without donations and these fundraisers in the community, so we depend on them and the community has really reached out to us and helped us out. Every year our event has grown and every year we give more and more money to Cullman residents.”

Monograms Plus donated $6,136 to the Cullman County Bosom Buddies Foundation Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. Pictured left to right are Rayven Peak, Jennifer Limerich, Lynsey Todd and Judy Grissom. (Jen Baker)

Monograms Plus Owner Lynsey Todd said she was excited for the chance to give back to her community and has been happy to see the event continue to grow each year.

“A couple of years ago Katie Fine from Karma’s (Coffee House) and I got together and tried to figure out what we could do to try and raise some money from the community, and everyone loves bingo, so she offered up her coffee shop and we got all the games together and everything. At our first bingo I think we had about 30 people that came and we raised a decent amount of money, so we decided to keep it going,” Todd said. “This year I think we sold about 104 tickets, and we were absolutely maxed out at our location. We held it at the Byre building over at St. Bernard and were able to raise almost $7,000 for Bosom Buddies. It’s always a fun time and we love being able to host and we love being able to help our community.”

The Cullman County Bosom Buddies is a nonprofit that supports Cullman-area patients who are undergoing cancer treatment. Learn more at www.cullmanbosombuddies.com.

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