This Sunday the Edna B. and Joyce Fay Washington Breast Cancer Foundation Inc., in cooperation with Natchez Regional Medical Center, will present its second annual “Hats and Gloves with Tea on the Mississippi.”

The tea, along with a silent auction, will take place at the Natchez Grand Hotel at 3:30 p.m.

Children will be presented at the tea wearing the clothes of their mother or father. Since the clothing is obviously too big, they beg, “Please find a cure for breast cancer before these clothes fit me.”

All proceeds from the event will be used to provide mammograms, at NRMC, to medically under-served women.

The goal is to encourage women to get their mammograms annually.

We don’t want the lack of insurance or the lack of financial resources to hinder a woman from getting a mammogram.

According to the spring 2008 issue of the American Association for Cancer Research there has been an increased interest in learning more about health disparities.

The article, “Defining Disparities” indicates, “There are many factors that interweave and overlap in the lives of under-served populations that can prevent them from getting the screening tests, like mammography, that can find the disease early.”

Of course, early diagnosis is the key. Take my work for it. I’m a 22-year breast cancer survivor.

Your support of this event, for $25 per person, will make a difference.

We invite you to visit our website at www.washingtonbreastcancerfoundation.org and learn more about the foundation.

Joyce Washington Ivery is the founder of the Edna B. and Joyce Fay Washington Breast Cancer Foundation Inc.