Aqua Mania Adventures hosted the 7th annual Pink Sunset Sail earlier this month in support of local foundations, to generate breast cancer awareness. This popular event kicks off Breast Cancer Awareness Month each year in October. Through ticket sales and a raffle this year, an amount of $6,789 was raised and will go to the Elektralytes and Positive foundations in support of their efforts to raise breast cancer awareness and to motivate women and men to get checked.
This year, some 180 people in three catamarans, Lambada, Tango and Mambo, sailed off into the sunset during the 90-minute coastal sail and generously purchased raffle tickets to win prizes sponsored by many local businesses.
“The Pink Sunset Sail is becoming more popular each year, which shows in us being able to fill a third boat this year. The event focuses on bringing people together, and while enjoying an evening out, educate and generate awareness of the importance of early detection. Each year, we see many return customers and, of course, many new guests. This year, we saw that a lot of companies used this as an initiative to have their staff go together, whether it was as a staff outing, or to participate in Breast Cancer Awareness Month. We hope we will see this again in future years,” said Event Organizer, Michele Korteweg.
The afternoon kicked off with the Pink Mixer welcoming all guests to the event. This included welcome drinks and hors d’oeuvres sponsored by Avantika, ILTT, Captain D and La Patrona. This year, Livvitt sponsored a backdrop that functioned as a photo wall, which was a popular addition to the overall atmosphere of the event.
“The raffle is what everyone gets really excited about, and who wouldn’t, with prizes donated by over 75 local companies! We are proud and so extremely grateful to have the ongoing support from the local community and businesses that allow us to grow this event and the fundraiser each year by donating prizes to the raffle,” said Korteweg.
During the month of October, Positive Foundation, along with its partners including the St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC), the medical practitioners on St. Maarten, the American University of the Caribbean (AUC) School of Medicine, Collective Prevention Services (CPS), the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labor VSA and sponsors will provide free screening opportunities, 100 free mammograms for uninsured persons, free breast self-examination workshops, in-person presentations on breast cancer awareness and free educational literature at the various events.
In addition, the foundations and partners relaunched the breast abnormalities screening program for women 18 years and older. This initiative begun in 2017 to identify breast abnormalities that can be risk factors for diseases of the breast as early as possible and to refer for further diagnosis and treatment. To date, approximately 430 women have already participated in this project prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal is to screen 1000 women to complete the project. The screening entails a free clinical breast examination, a health screening and education about breast cancer and risk factors for this disease.
“These are just some of the ways the Positive Foundation plans to educate our community on the importance of early detection, risk factors and the symptoms and signs of breast cancer. We are very grateful that businesses like Aqua Mania Adventures are on board to assist us with our cause,” said Positive Foundation President Shelly Alphonso.
Next year’s event will take place on Saturday, September 30, and will again be hosted by Aqua Mania Adventures, which offers sunset sails and many other trips year-round. For more information, check out www.stmaarten-activities.com.
The Positive and Elektralytes foundations host a number of events throughout the month of October. For more information on events and how to contribute, check out www.positivefoundationsxm.com
