It’s incredible to see the support breast cancer patients and survivors receive in October. Everyone is wearing pink shirts, shoes and cleats, there are fundraisers and runs. 

But Powell women Brenda Nelson and Stacey Atkinson both know firsthand that women fighting breast cancer need support year-round.

Their new nonprofit Paint the Town Pink (happily borrowed from Northwest College’s Paint the Town Red event) will hopefully help turn the acts of kindness they have done the last few years into an even more impactful program. 

The two breast cancer survivors hope by being a nonprofit they’ll be able to garner more monetary support to be able to help more women in bigger ways. They also hope it’ll encourage more women to reach out for help, no matter the situation. 

What’s great about what they’re doing is it is entirely locally-focused. As Nelson said, many people get tired of supporting causes and then never actually seeing the results. Well, Paint the Town Pink is all about local results. It’s about providing local women fighting an awful disease extra support. 

And, because both women spearheading this effort have fought breast cancer themselves and received community support, they know how important the little things are, like the gas card to offset the cost of daily trips to Cody for treatment, the items for self care and pampering, the money that can be used however the recipient thinks best. 

These two women have fought their own battles with cancer, have been through their own struggles and have every right to be looking out for themselves and their family, to use their time to run their own downtown businesses (Nelson runs Rest Awhile Cafe and Atkinson owns Eternal Light Creations). Yet they are selflessly sacrificing their time and resources to not just put these packages together, but to be there for others. 

That devotion to others is commendable and, I hope, will influence others to do the same with their own causes and do even more to make Powell one of the best places around for community support.