It started as two friends, connected by a shared fight against breast cancer, wanting to help others in the community as they themselves had been supported.

It’s evolved into Paint the Town Pink, a nonprofit that aims to help women fighting breast cancer throughout the year by providing money and gift baskets filled with donated items from local businesses.

Recently local Pepsi supplier Wade Myrick was able to provide a $750 donation from the company to the newly formed nonprofit, the biggest donation the two women have ever received.

But it’s not just about physical help. Most importantly, said co-founder Brenda Nelson, it’s about support.

“We just want to be a blessing to women who are where we’ve been,” she said. “Anybody who wants to be involved is welcome to donate. We want people to rally around and support people going through a really rough road.”

Nelson and Stacey Atkinson both know that road well. They met over Facebook in 2019 when both were fighting breast cancer. Atkinson was in Powell and Nelson in Minnesota. Nelson reached out through a mutual friend in Powell and said she’d pray for Atkinson.

“We’ve been talking every day ever since,” Atkinson said.

She said both of them were supported by the communities when they were going through the worst of the cancer treatments — Atkinson said she wouldn’t wish chemotherapy on her worst enemy — and wanted to ensure local women going through breast cancer received the same support.

So in 2021, after Nelson and her family had moved to Powell, the two women identified the first two local women they would help.

“Stacey and I both wanted to do something,” Nelson said. “There’s a lot of fundraising for breast cancer in general, but there’s not a lot of resources right in the area. Having both been through it, we wanted to give something to women in the area.”

She said it was the little things that had helped them the most, like gas cards, so they focused on the little things.

Atkinson said they gathered together donated items from businesses for a care basket and then provided a basket and some money each to two local women with breast cancer. Both women are downtown Powell business owners themselves, so Atkinson’s Eternal Light Creations and Nelson’s Rest Awhile Cafe are also supporters of the baskets.

Women actively battling breast cancer who would like the support just need to fill out a brief form and have their medical provider send information that is kept confidential. Funds received can be spent however the recipient wants, whether, Atkinson said, it’s for gas money or to be pampered. 

“We wanted to do something to help women feel cared for,” Nelson said.

She recalled the expense of driving two hours weekly for treatments. Atkinson had to drive to Cody daily for treatments at one point.

“It’s not thousands of dollars,” Atkinson said of their support, “but every little bit helps.”

Last year they were able to provide more support to one woman with breast cancer, then they decided that, with the leftover money from fundraising that year, they would open a bank account so they could gift women through the year if it was needed, she said.

The gift from Pepsi provides a big boost and had a personal aspect to it.

“Breast cancer hits close to home with me,” Myrick said. “My daughter passed away in January from metastatic breast cancer. I asked around, said ‘I want to do something local.’ I got news of these guys, thought it would be the right thing to do.”

He said his local Pepsi team was fully behind him in supporting breast cancer awareness, and not just in October, which is something Nelson and Atkinson are also stressing.

The women have already helped another woman this year and Nelson is hoping being a nonprofit and bringing more exposure to the organization will convince more women fighting breast cancer to reach out, as she thinks many think the help is only for women in financial need.

They even have a group where Nelson, Atkinson and the women they have helped gather together as the Pink Ladies for occasional get-togethers.

“It’s not about meeting financial needs, having someone be destitute before we provide help, it’s about being a friend, providing comfort,” Nelson said. “There are friends out there that want to make the path easier for them.”

Those wanting to support Paint the Town Pink can write checks to Paint the Town Pink at the Bank of Powell or send them to Eternal Light Creations. For more information, call 307-202-1848.