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According to Joyce Washington Ivery of the Edna B. and Joyce Fay Washington Breast Cancer Foundation, Natchez’s best-kept secret — at least medically — is the nonprofit’s annual Hats and Gloves with Tea on the Mississippi fundraiser.

That is because this fundraiser serves the uninsured and underinsured members of the Miss Lou community by helping them receive annual mammograms free of charge.

During the fundraiser in September, Ivery presented Merit Health Natchez with a check for $10,000, which will be available to such residents upon request when they go to the hospital for their screenings.

Unfortunately, these funds usually dry up by May or June, Ivery said.

“We don’t raise enough,” she said. “I look forward to the day that we get sponsorships along the way so that the funds will last the calendar year. Our goal is prevention. We want to serve women before they get to the point of having breast surgery. The mainstream cancer foundations don’t do that. Our mom-and-pop organization does. We’re the best-kept secret in Natchez. The more we can get the word out about it, the more people we can help.”

Ivery’s commitment to preventing breast cancer is personal to her, having been diagnosed and treated for it herself.

When Hurricane Katrina flooded her New Orleans home, she was moved from the hospital, weak from surgery, to spend the night in the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center where other victims of the flood were being housed.

Ivery said God led her find to her cousin, who is from Natchez, out of the crowd of people trying to evacuate the city and came with him to Natchez on Sept. 1, 2005.

“It’s very clear to me that that was God because there were just so many people going up and down the area, calling out the names of family members, trying to find people. I sat there and I thought about how blessed that was, that God put him in my path,” she said.

However, Ivery said it was never her intent to stay in Natchez indefinitely after the hurricane.

“It was by divine order that I remained here,” she said.

“I had absolutely nothing after Katrina. I never say ‘I don’t have anything to wear’ anymore because now I know what it’s like not to have anything to wear. Instead, I say ‘What do I feel like wearing.’”

In March 2021, Ivery published her experiences through that challenging period of her life and her poetry in a book titled “The Pretty Pink Ribbon: A Breast Cancer Survivor’s Hurricane Katrina Story.”

“It was an experience, but there are many stories much worse than mine,” she said.

Ivery’s nonprofit foundation, which started in New Orleans, survived the hurricane and continues to support people in the Miss Lou.

“In June we officially acknowledged 30 years of service and I’m proud and grateful for that,” she said. “You don’t hear of any support groups lasting that long.”

To learn more about the Edna B. and Joyce Fay Washington Breast Cancer Foundation, or to contribute, visit www.washingtonbreastcancerfoundation.com.