At 5:45 AM on Saturday, January 31, Benjamin student-volunteers gathered at Polka Dot. They had given up 3 hours of their precious teenage sleep to volunteer at the Race for the Cure, a 5K run/walk that raises funds and awareness for breast cancer. Mrs. Hansen, Mr. Bayless, and Mrs. Devine have been running this community service project for many years, but this year not everything went according to plan. There were many surprises, both good and bad.

At first, there was no indication that this year’s volunteer opportunity would be different than any other. The buses left on time at 6:00 a.m., and the volunteers arrived at the race headquarters at Meyer Amphitheater where they were treated to  donuts, fresh coffee, and hot chocolate, courtesy of Dunkin’ Donuts.   Then things began to go wrong. Leaving the headquarters at the Meyer Amphitheatre, the Benjamin students walked out to the buses, but they had changed places. When the students finally found their buses, it was unclear which bus was the one that each student traveled from school on. Also, there was a confusion about the shirts that were given to the Benjamin volunteers. The shirts were at first not enough for everyone, but even when each volunteer finally received one, they were the wrong sizes. After sorting this out and boarding the proper buses,  the volunteers traveled beside  the Intracoastal looking for water stations, which were either all taken or nonexistent. Benjamin was supposed to have two water stations, but since all stations were occupied, the only option for a water station was sharing one with the Rosarian volunteers.  “We had to do a lot of touring, and everyone was very flexible and very kind and everyone was patient until we got where we needed to be,” said Mrs. Hansen. Her words echoed the sentiments of the TBS volunteers. It was easy for them to overlook the minor annoyances when they considered that they were there to serve the participants and do their part in supporting putting an end to breast cancer.

In fact, sharing the water station with Rosarian turned out to be a great experience. Many of the Rosarian teachers have Benjamin connections, so many of the teachers already knew each other. Patrick Hansen, the Rosarian teacher who  organized their station, was briefly a teacher at Benjamin, and his wife, Cara Scarola, was a teacher at Benjamin for several years and is an alumnus of TBS, as are many of her siblings. This familiarity helped make for many conversations and catching-up between the teachers. Both the Rosarian students and teachers were very welcoming, and both the Benjamin students and teachers were very appreciative.

“It was all positive and we all were successful in distributing as many waters as we could,” explained eighth grader Sam Fox. Mrs. Hansen agreed. “I think [the two schools] worked very well together…It turned out to be a very positive relationship for both schools so we got to know somebody else that [our students at Benjamin] normally don’t talk to. Hopefully that sportsmanship and that camaraderie will turn into other things when we see them at other competitions,” she said. As it turns out, Rosarian may have needed Benjamin’s help because it only had 10 volunteers, well short of the 30 it was expecting.  Working together turned out to be such a special experience that the schools are considering volunteering together again in the future.

Nancy Brinker founded the Susan G. Komen organization in honor of her sister, Susan G. Komen, who lost her battle with breast cancer in 1982. Brinker currently serves as the CEO of the foundation, and The Neersyde was able to contact her for an interview. She said that teaching children about cancer at an early age is important because “there is often a lot of fear attached to the diagnosis of the disease. Actually, when caught at its earliest stages, it is often highly survivable. In fact, the five-year survival rate for early breast cancer is 99 percent in America if all protocol is followed,” she said. Since the chances of living for five years with breast cancer is 99%, it is important to teach children at an early age the importance of getting regular check-ups. Brinker also pointed out that the volunteers are “often survivors or those who help others learn and become aware of the presence of disease or those who know how to treat it.” Her favorite part of the annual race is “when the survivors come up to the stage and celebrate their journey.”

Benjamin didn’t just have volunteers at the race, however. Mathematics and physical education teacher Ms. Lazarus won the women’s 5K race with a time of 19 minutes and 27 seconds. This race was meaningful for her in many ways. Every year, she runs the race in honor of her grandmother, Betty Lazarus, who passed away from breast cancer. Lazarus said running the race “was such an amazing feeling.” Just when I was really starting to get tired, I ran past the water station where the Benjamin students were and it definitely gave me that extra boost of energy I needed to make it to the finish line.” Lazarus was also glad the students got to see a different side to her. “I am so glad that my students were able to see me in action, to really see me doing what I love to the best of my ability.” .

Also, John Reback, a Benjamin parent who has two children at Benjamin, Emily (freshman) and Ashley (senior) won the masters division with a time of 17 minutes and 1 second.

As Ms. Lazarus was fueled by love and determination in honor of her grandmother, the Buccaneer volunteers relied on their spirit of compassion and service to help the 5k participants and, in turn, the Susan G. Komen organization. In addition to learning the importance of contributing to the community, the volunteers learned how to be appreciative and didn’t let the little things stand in the way of making it a great day.