Baltimore?s Red Devils want you to go shopping ? to help breast cancer patients. The Red Devils is a nonprofit organization helping to improve the quality of life for breast cancer patients and their families. Founded by the families of Maryland residents Jessica Cowling and Ginny Schardt ? who lost their battle with breast cancer in 2002 ? the group works on the belief that breast cancer not only affects individuals, but whole families.
“We make it possible for people to receive meals when they are too tired or too sick to cook. We make arrangements for child care; we help them clean their homes,” said Jan Wilson, the organization?s first executive director.
Cowling and Schardt met while undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment. When they noticed that a host of women didn?t have a support network to depend on, their families decided to do something about it. They founded the Red Devils in 2002. The name is derived from a common nickname for a chemotherapy drug called Adriamycin because of its bright red color and hellish side effects.
With partnerships in more than 20 hospitals in Maryland, the Red Devils work with nurse coordinators who refer patients in need. They arrange needed services and foot the bill.
Mikey Monaghan, a retail marketer for Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse, Inc., came up with the idea of a “Sweet Shopping” day to raise money for the Red Devils. “I didn?t know much about them at first. So I learned more about them, and just fell in love with the organization,” she said. “I loved the local feel of it.”
Last year?s shopping day only involved the Belvedere Square center. This year?s event expands to include Clipper Mill, The CanCo. and Harbor East. Merchants will don red horns and donate a portion of the day?s proceeds to the Red Devils.
Melissa Taylor says she is looking forward to the event in her stationery store, Simply Noted, in Belvedere Square. “The Red Devils is a great organization, and it hits our target demographic as well.”
“Right now we support about 450 to 480 breast cancer patients in Maryland,” Wilson said. “But when you consider the fact that 4,200 women are diagnosed in Maryland every year, we are helping just a little over 10 percent. We would like to grow to have the capacity to serve all of those women if need be.”
