The Grant Park area breast cancer support 501(c) (3) nonprofit, Fight Club Survivor, will host its biannual Bingo fundraiser on May 9 at the Grant Park Community Center.
The event, which includes three sets of 10 Bingo rounds, gives attendees the chance to play and select a gift basket with a winning Bingo card. There are also other raffles and giveaways at the event that support the nonprofit.
The Bingo baskets are put together by Fight Club Survivor founder and two-time breast cancer survivor Jeanne Wokurka of Grant Park, along with her mom using donations from individuals and groups.
Event tickets are $20 each and are sold only at the door on the day of the event. There are no online ticket sales, as organizers have found there are too many fraudulent scams targeting fundraising events online, especially on Facebook. Workurka said this way, no one should get scammed.
Doors open at 5 p.m., with Bingo starting at 6 p.m., but people often come early and line up, Wokurka noted.
Coming early gives people a chance to view the prizes and snag their seats, which are first-come, first-served. They’ve, thankfully, avoided selling out, but they have come close in recent years.
“The last two times we got close to filling the house, around 150 people attended. It’d be a good problem to have, but we hope to have it manageable,” Wokurka said.
The event will feature a variety of food options and soft drinks for purchase.
“I think of people more like me, and what I can afford, so that’s why we do what we do with the fundraisers,” Wokurka said. It’s why she chooses Bingo for her nonprofit’s fundraiser rather than more high-profile fundraisers, like golf outings. It keeps it casual, fun, and supportive.
The biannual fundraiser is put on by Wokurka and the nonprofit’s board of directors, which also includes her family. Several organizations and businesses contribute prizes for attendees. They also will accept donations to the nonprofit onsite.
Wokurka said she hopes the fundraiser will bring in $5,000. With the cost of everything going up, they’re not hoping to make a profit – they just want to avoid being in the red. Proceeds go toward operational costs, care packages for cancer patients, and keeping the mobile boutique, “Faith,” up and running.
The care packages have evolved somewhat, Wokurka explained, starting out as everything she needed during treatment. But now, she says, it’s more about giving patients permission to take a moment for themselves, amidst everything else they have going on.
The care packages contain items to help comfort, support, and uplift a woman going through breast cancer treatment. The exact items are a surprise. They can be delivered, shipped, or available if someone visits the boutique (by appointment).
“Your work will be there tomorrow – you need to take care of yourself today,” Workurka said.
The mission is important to Wokurka, who started Fight Club Survivor in February 2015 after recovering from her second round of battling breast cancer in 2014.
She was first diagnosed in 2012 at the age of 39, with two young children. She was lucky to have a good support system with her husband and family, but she recognized not everyone does.
“You kind of find out who your real friends are, and I wanted to be the friend who didn’t go away and be there for them. A lot of people don’t have insurance and struggle with bills, so we do the free wigs, breast forms, and bras, things like that,” Wokurka explained of their mobile boutique, “Faith.”
The mobile boutique, open by appointment, gives women a private space to try on wigs, see what they will look like in the head coverings and feel what the forms feel like on, Wokurka said.
“I remember when I had to get my hair shaved off – it was tough. I didn’t like having someone looking over my shoulder. It was such a private feeling for me,” Wokurka said.
She just wanted to give women a private, safe space where they can experience their emotions unabashedly as they grapple with the changes they face from treatment.
“If somebody comes to the boutique, I’ll cry with them, that’s what I want people to know. I want them to know they can cry with me, and there’s nobody looking over your shoulder,” Wokurka said.
“We go out of the room, unless they want us to come in and, if they don’t, that’s ok, too,” Wokurka explained.
It’s been just over 11 years that Wokurka has run the nonprofit with the other board of directors, and she said she and her daughter work together to send out care packages. She’s there to operate the boutique when they have appointments.
When asked what drives Wokurka to continue to run the nonprofit after all these years, she didn’t hesitate to answer.
“Me being alive!” Wokurka said. Though she doesn’t get paid, it keeps her busy full-time, and she finds the work fulfilling.
She recalled one woman who was so depressed by her diagnosis that she considered giving up the fight against breast cancer and ending her own life. Wokurka said she received the care package, which gave the woman hope and changed her trajectory.
“She’s still alive today, because it made her know she wasn’t alone. That one will always stay with me,” Wokurka said of the impact the nonprofit has made.
The story she told was just one life of many changed by her desire to help – during the past decade, there are probably thousands who have been touched by her nonprofit.
“It is very time-consuming, but it’s very rewarding. I do it for everybody – I feel like the Spirit is telling me this is what they need, they need to reconnect with themselves. I just want people to know that they need to find themselves during it, it’s tough,” Wokurka explained.
“It’s definitely a fight, but we survive – and thrive, hopefully,” Wokurka added.
Those who wish to support the nonprofit organization or want to learn more can visit fightclubsurvivor.org. The website also has an online store, and people can request appointments at the boutique or care packages for those undergoing cancer treatment. Those requesting support do not need to be local to Grant Park.
The May 9 Bingo event will be held at the Grant Park Community Center, at 209 W. Dixie Highway.