Bridgeport, CT – Bridgeport Fire Chief Richard Thode today is announcing a major donation from Bridgeport Firefighters given to the Norma Pfriem Breast Care Center at Bridgeport Hospital to support breast cancer research and prevention. The donation of $6,363.00 was presented to officials with the Norma Pfriem Center at a recent event at Bridgeport Fire Engine/Ladder 10. Firefighters at Engine/Ladder 10 spearheaded the donations by making pink t-shirts for their colleagues to wear city-wide. Every firefighter wishing to participate would pay $20.00 to the collection to purchase a pink t-shirt, then pay $5.00 every time they wore the shirt during their shift. Competition and high participation throughout the Bridgeport Fire Department resulted in the raising of $6,363 in direct donations by firefighters in only four short weeks of fundraising.
“Breast cancer is something that impacts all of our families, and has even affected members of our own family of firefighters,” said Bridgeport Fire Chief Richard Thode. “This effort to give back to the community and fund early detection and research efforts for breast cancer is something our firemen and women enthusiastically got behind. We will continue to make efforts to be charitable in our community and I suspect that when we do this fundraiser again next year we will easily beat our donation totals for this year.”
“I am so grateful for all of the effort and generosity of the Firefighters of Bridgeport for supporting the work we do to keep our community healthy and educated about breast cancer,” said Dr. Donna Twist, Executive Director of the Norma Pfriem Breast Center. “These funds will actually be able to help our community directly – it is the equivalent of providing 50 women who otherwise could not afford it with free mammograms which as we know can save lives. There are women in Bridgeport who are underserved by the healthcare system and our goal is to make sure they too participate in early detection for breast cancer and education about this disease. On behalf of the Norma Pfriem Breast Center we thank the Bridgeport Fire Department for this substantial gift and we are so appreciative of your partnership and caring.”
Bridgeport firefighters were inspired to raise their own donations for breast cancer research and prevention following their participation in Bridgeport’s first annual “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” Walk that took place in Seaside Park October 23, 2016. More information on how to donate to the Norma Pfriem Breast Center can be found online:
https://www.