Alexander Shun

Web Editor Associate | @alexpshun

On Tuesday, September 8, the Minnesota Lynx were playing their last regular season home game and attempting to wrap up the top seed in the Western Conference against a very tough Seattle Storm team. The Lynx ended up winning the game 73-67 and grabbing the top seed in the West, but the game was about much more than basketball.

In the second quarter of the game, the Lynx took a moment to honor and recognize Circle of Hope, a charitable organization helping  people in financial distress due to a breast cancer diagnosis with daily living expenses, as well as medical, prescription and dental bills. Circle of Hope is located out of Duluth, but serves breast cancer patients in Northern Minnesota.

Circle of Hope is committed toward helping breast cancer patients by improving the quality of their lives. Feel good, sporting events, and educational activities are for all breast cancer patients. The charity has also set up funds for paying bills to help breast cancer patients with rent/mortgage, utilities, food and gas cards. The money from these account comes from donations, fundraisers, third party fundraisers and grants, as they are available.

To show their support and recognition of all the incredible work that Circle of Hope does, Minnesota Lynx President Chris Wright presented Board Vice Chair Cathy Jo Tastsides, on behalf of Circle of Hope, with a grant for $5,000.

“I feel extremely honored, I truly don’t know what to say,” said Tastsides when asked what receiving such a grant meant to her and the Circle of Hope charity. “The Lynx are such a great organization and they have been such a great partner to have and to be recognized like this is really nice.”

A $5,000 grant could do a lot for a budding charity, and Tastsides says that she already knows the exact ways that such money will help.

“Most of this money is going to metastatic breast cancer research and helping patients with metastatic cancer which is, at this point, an uncurable cancer, so just to have the money to be able to help people is amazing.”

“$3,000 of the $5,000 is going directly to [University of Minnesota-Duluth’s] cancer research for metastatic breast cancer,” said Rebecca Bullard, board member for Circle of Hope. “They’ve made huge strides just in our little hometown of Duluth and I am so appreciative of the Lynx and to have the grants and have the ability to apply and get the money because I would say that 95 percent of the money that we bring in, goes right back out into the community, it goes to research, it goes to our fundraising.”

Being so dependent on fundraising and donations, Circle of Hope can do their best work and provide the most help when they receive donations and funds from generous organizations like the Minnesota Lynx. Bullard stresses though that anyone can donate money, and it doesn’t have to be an extravagant amount either.

“Every little bit helps. It doesn’t have to be a lot because we can do a lot of things with even the smallest of donations. So those that think they can’t help because they simply cannot afford to are wrong because they can help.”

To learn more about Circle of Hope or to make a donation, click here to visit their website.