Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Easy Ideas for Showing Support

Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, you may be looking for a few ideas for observing and showing support. Don't think you have to do elaborate, expensive things to show support for family, friends and even strangers. Use one or more of these ideas to be pink during the month of October and any other time of the year.

* Tie a pink ribbon to your car antenna.

* Tie pink ribbons on the branches of a small tree in your yard.

* Decorate your front porch with pink fall mums.

* Paint a pumpkin pink.

* Make cupcakes, decorate them with pink icing then share them at work, at church, at your local cancer center and with other friends and family.

* Participate in a cancer walk or fundraiser.

* Write letters to the editor of your local newspaper telling about your personal feelings about Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

* Invest in and pass out pink bracelets. Give them to friends, family, strangers at the grocery store.

* Make encouragement cards to take to your local cancer treatment center. Ask the staff to pass them along to patients receiving chemotherapy.

* Volunteer! Check with your local cancer treatment center about volunteer opportunities. Perhaps you can provide transportation for a chemotherapy patient.

* Donate magazines to a cancer center or oncology unit. Patients spend a lot of time waiting and having something to do is always welcomed.

* Change your profile picture on Facebook or other social networking sites. I changed my Facebook pic to pink ribbons in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

* Share links to blogs and articles about breast cancer on your Twitter and Facebook accounts.

* Put a streak of pink in your hair. If you don't want to go permanent, many fashion and jewelry stores have hair adornments that would service the purpose and would look like a streak of pink hair. It would probably even get enough attention that a few people might ask you why you have pink in your hair and you could tell them.

* Make an appointment with your family physician to find out about getting a mammogram for yourself. Fighting breast cancer and raising awareness about this disease starts with taking care of you and your health.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month is every month for me personally as my mother has just started treatment for breast cancer. It is very personal now and I want to raise awareness no matter what month it is. I'll be going pink in a lot of ways as I plan to cheer on my mother as she fights and wins this battle.