On Tuesday, November 22nd, representatives from Corolla Classic Vacations visited The Outer Banks Hospital to present a check for $1,000 earmarked for the Get Pinked! Campaign. Pictured below are (from left to right): Karyl Rhodes, Get Pinked! Campaign Committee; Carl Curnutte, Co-Chairman Get Pinked! Committee; Eddie Kavanaugh, Founder of Corolla Classic Vacations; Denise Graham, Founder of Corolla Classic Vacations; Margaret Wells, Get Pinked! Campaign Committee; and Jarie Ebert, Marketing Director at The Outer Banks Hospital.
Under the leadership of Carl Curnutte and Linda Willey, The Outer Banks Hospital's Development Council launched its second annual Get Pinked! campaign back in August. Twenty-five businesses raised $1,000 or more to support Get Pinked! They include: Atlantic Realty, Barefoot Bernie’s, Corolla Classic Vacations, the Employees of Dare County, First Bank, Gateway Bank, Gidget’s Pizza & Pasta, Gray’s Department Stores, Hairoics Salon & Spa, Miss Lizzie’s, Nags Head Inn, OBX Bank, OBX Chevrolet, Outer Banks Blue Realty, Outer Banks Boot Camps, Outer Banks Running Club, Pigman’s Bar-B-Que, Quality Inn Carolina Oceanfront, RBC Bank, Southern Bank & Trust Company, Sun Realty, The Outer Banks Hospital Board of Directors, The Outer Banks Hospital Employees, The Willey Agency, and Urban Cottage.
The idea for the fundraiser began several years ago when it came to the Development Council’s attention that the mortality rate for breast cancer in Dare County was in the top 25% of the state (North Carolina Central Cancer Registry). Council members found this fact unsettling, especially when more and more women are surviving the disease. The earlier breast cancer is found, the better the chances that treatment will work. Knowing that early detection is key, the committee set about raising money so that women and men in financial need would have an opportunity to receive a free screening mammogram. To date, the Development Council’s Get Pinked! Campaign has raised, through its two campaigns approximately $75,000 to underwrite the costs of those screenings.