Keep A Breast Foundation

View Original

How We Made a Global Difference in 2023: The Global Impact Report

Together, we made great strides in breast cancer prevention and early detection in 2023. Here’s how.

While we can hardly believe we’ll be heading into our 25th year (a quarter of a century?!?) in 2025, we are so honored to share the incredible impact that we’ve made in just one year–2023–together!

Last year was major for our mission of reducing breast cancer risk and its impact globally through Art, Education, Prevention and Action. 

Here’s how we made an impact worldwide in each of these core tenets of our mission. We couldn’t have done it without you.


ART

If you joined us in San Diego during Breast Cancer Prevention Month, you’ll know that we had the most incredible breast cast collection on display at Fall Brewing Company all throughout October. Twenty casts were created for the event celebrating artists, survivors, visionaries and incredible women connected to the beer industry in our hometown of SD. 

These casts tell a story, either about resilience, strength, beauty, reflection or love, or all of the above! All to help raise visibility for our cause of promoting breast cancer early detection and breast cancer prevention. Nearly 6,000 people had the opportunity to visit this beautiful exhibit in October.

In France, we brought our Traveling Education Booth to the Queen Classic Surf Festival (side note: surf events are where we first went “international,” with the Roxy team in France). Our Founder, Shaney Jo, cast many of the women professional surfers at this event, including Kassia Meador and Lola Mignot. We are honored by their support, and to have them join us in raising awareness for breast cancer prevention through our breast casting process and exhibit.

We use art as a vehicle to meet people where they are. These are just a few of the 2023 events and exhibitions we hosted to spark conversation around the complex topic of breast cancer and to inspire action around the world.


EDUCATION

In 2023, we distributed more than 176,000 “Check Yourself” cards worldwide! We partnered with Zumiez to share our instructional door hangers with countless young people at Zumiez stores across the country.

We also distributed these cards to women in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in conjunction with educational workshops, to empower them to check themselves and help reduce risk in their country.


PREVENTION

This is where the magic happens. Through in-person events and educational workshops, including surf competitions, Pride events to fundraisers and much more, we love to meet people and share our message of prevention! 

Online, we’ve built an amazing community of survivors, co-survivors and thrivers who rely on the information, programs and initiatives we share on our website and on social media to enrich their lives.


ACTION

We are all about action, rather than awareness, because our goal is to reduce the rate of breast cancer, not just treat it. In 2023, nearly 300 fundraisers nationally joined us for Fit 4 Prevention, our national movement to promote breast cancer prevention through fitness and wellness. With each fundraiser hosting a workout, workshop, yoga class, HIIT challenge…our message was amplified to countless class attendees across the U.S.!

Most importantly, we were able to give 464 Black, Indigenous, People of Color women who are survivors or current patients, $232,000 in grant funds through generous donations from our partner brands and donors like you! Thank you for helping us make a difference in these women’s lives. 


We are excited to share with you the evolution of our programs and initiatives for 2024, including the planning of KAB Valley, our wellness center near Joshua Tree, CA. 

For any caregiver reading this blog, we’d love to hear from you–how might a center like this support your needs as someone caring for a breast cancer patient or survivor? (Thank you so much to our survivors who’ve already helped us meet our quota for your feedback on our survey.)


Thank you for your generous support in 2023, and we hope you’ll help us continue to make a difference in the year ahead.


READ MORE:

See this gallery in the original post