PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles will be in the pink during the next week as the Soroptimists’ Pink Up Port Angeles campaign paints the town in its signature color.
The annual fundraising campaign is conducted by Soroptimists International of Port Angeles (Noon Club), which decorates Port Angeles with ribbons and balloons.
The campaign begins with a bake sale today. It will continue with other “pink” events — such as rowing, a spaghetti feed, a dog walk and a golf tournament — through June 24 to support Operation Uplift.
“It feels so darn good to be a part of it,” said Linda deBord, fundraising chairwoman.
Cancer support group
Operation Uplift is a Port Angeles-based cancer support group that offers education, information, support meetings, a 24-hour phone line, free clinics, prostheses and wigs for both women and men with all types of cancer.
It operates on donations, with an all-volunteer board of directors, and Pink Up is the organization’s primary fundraising series of events.
Every penny of donations remains in Clallam County, deBord said.
The funds are used for cancer screenings, to help with the cost of gas to get to medical appointments, to buy wigs for those undergoing chemotherapy or whatever else is needed.
More than 300 people
In 2011, the event raised $32,100, which helped more than 300 people through Operation Uplift, deBord said.
That included 72 free screening mammograms and five ultrasounds for women who needed additional checks, she said.
A new event this year will be group rows, with rowers dressed in pink shirts or “crazy costumes.”
They will row in 90-minute shifts beginning at 7 a.m., 8:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. Saturday at the Ediz Hook boathouse, said Lynda Williamson, coach for the Olympic Peninsula Rowing Association.
“Rowers will make a splash against breast cancer,” Williamson said.
Kayakers also are invited to join the rowers on the water to show their support for Operation Uplift, she said.
Donations will be accepted, and Pink Up T-shirts may be available, Williamson said.
Members of the public can watch from Ediz Hook, she said.
Events last eight days
The fundraising begins today with a bake sale from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Swain’s General Store, 602 E. First St., Port Angeles.
Soroptimists’ home-cooked pies and cakes always have been good money-makers for the breast cancer organization, deBord said.
Also today will be a barbecue and car wash put on by Windermere Real Estate at 711 E. Front St.
The benefit for Pink Up Port Angeles will be from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Hamburgers, veggie burgers and homemade side dishes will be served.
On Saturday morning, the decorations will begin to go up at businesses and throughout the city, she said.
Past winners of the business-decoration contest were Sears at 520 S. Lincoln St., and Cherry Hill Florist, 507 S. Cherry St.
“Pinking up the town” will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday at Port Angeles Realty, 1129 E. Front St.
Volunteers are invited to meet there to get ribbons and other pink decorations to be distributed for an eight-day display.
Also at 9 a.m. Saturday, free breast health-mammogram screenings will be offered at Olympic Medical Center’s MRI Digital Imaging Center.
The screenings are sponsored by Operation Uplift and the Pink Up campaign in cooperation with Olympic Medical Center.
The free breast health clinic’s screenings are only by appointment, which can be made by phoning 360-457-5141.
Pooch Walk
At 10 a.m. Sunday, retired veterinarian Dennis Wilcox of Port Angeles will attend a Pooch Walk in his honor on the Waterfront Trail.
Participants in the Dennis Wilcox Pooch Walk can bring their dogs to City Pier to walk or run the Waterfront Trail to Francis Street Park, where they will get a hand stamp before making their way back to the pier for a doggy bag of treats.
All dogs must be on a leash.
Registration is $20 on-site and will include a Pink Up scarf for the dog.
Sponsors are Peninsula Bottling, Strait Occupational & Hand Therapy and Arrow Launch Service.
Pink Out the Pier
The next event will be the following Wednesday, when Soroptimists will Pink Out the Pier beginning at 5 p.m. the first day of the season for Concerts on the Pier.
Concerts of the Pier, a free two hours of music sponsored by the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce and Port Angeles Parks and Recreation Department, will begin at 6 p.m.
Cancer information and information about where people can go to get help will be provided.
Sales of small items such as T-shirts are planned, and pink cookies will be provided by culinary students at the North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center.
The event is sponsored by Olympic Medical Center.
‘Celebrity’ waiters
On Thursday, a $10 all-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner — served by local “celebrities” — will be held from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Chestnut Cottage, 929 E. Front St.
Dessert, wine and beer are available for an additional fee.
“Get there at about 7 p.m. to avoid the rush,” deBord said.
The waiters will be well-known people in town who volunteer to serve spaghetti for “tips” to become the champion waiter, she said.
Tips are donated to Operation Uplift.
A $1-per-ticket raffle for a gift basket from Franni’s Gift Expressions will take place during the dinner.
The dinner is sponsored by First Federal.
Next Friday, June 22, the shotgun-start Pink Up Golf Tournament will begin at noon at Peninsula Golf Club, 824 S. Lindberg Road.
A hole-in-one will win a new truck, a 2012 GMC, from Ruddell Auto Mall.
Registration is $45 for golf club members or $80 for non-members, and includes greens fees and a light snack, followed by hors d’oeuvres.
The major sponsor for the tournament is All Weather Heating & Cooling Inc. Also sponsoring the event is the Mac Ruddell Community Fund.
To register, phone Chris Repass at the golf club at 360-457-6501.
Finale dinner
The Pink Up Finale dinner will begin at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 23, at the Port Angeles CrabHouse Restaurant, 221 N. Lincoln St., and will feature special guest radio and voice personality Scott Burns.
The cocktail hour will begin at 5:30 p.m. Admission will be $35.
Known for his impersonations of Tom Brokaw, Barney Fife, Richard Simmons and others, Burns provides voices for animation characters in video and computer games, most notably the voice of Bowser in the Nintendo Super series.
Burns created a solo live performance show in 2007, examining his life of growing up on a farm to his career in radio, and performed in “G-Sale,” a “mockumentary” look at a town’s fascination with garage sales.
He has won seven Puget Sound Broadcasters “Soundies Awards,” deBord said.
Sponsors of the dinner are Union Bank, Windermere Realty and Wilder Toyota.
Advance tickets for the dinner are available by phoning 360-477-3101.
The pink will disappear beginning at 9 p.m. Sunday, June 24, during the De-Pink-ing of Port Angeles.
Cleanup will begin with breakfast at the Cornerhouse, 101. E. Front St.
For more information about the fundraising events, phone deBord at 360-460-1155 or 360-457-6181, or Margo Peterson-Pruss at 360-460-4251.
For more information about the Soroptimists International of Port Angeles (Noon Club), visit www.sipawa.org.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
