Every single person who drives by St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in east Lincoln this October will be reminded it's Breast Cancer Awareness month. There’s no escaping it, and the Middle Men group has made sure of it after painting two 35-foot pink cancer ribbons on its lawn.
“It’s a front-and-center reminder of it,†said Chip Shield, a congregation member and Middle Men member. “It’s something to think about, something to consider, and just remember the ones around us — be supportive to everybody.â€
The display is available for the public to leave flags in honor of survivors and those who have succumbed to breast cancer. It's also a way for Shield and the Middle Men to show their support for all the women who have to have yearly scans.
The Middle Men is exactly what it sounds like, a group of middle-aged men who get in the middle of things. The group of dads and husbands meets every Wednesday evening at St. Mark’s near 84th Street and Pioneers Blvd.
The group is only a couple years old, and while they’ve tried to help out the community in small ways here or there, Shields said this is their first big philanthropic undertaking.
The idea came from the Forever Pink Foundation in Kearney, which has arranged pink flags on a lawn to display the cancer ribbon for the past three years. This fall, the group used over 42,000 flags.
When Shields brought the idea to the Middle Men group, they decided to paint the large pink cancer ribbons on the hill of St. Mark’s.
The men worked together to stencil the outline designed by Derek Kotschwar, a mechanical engineer at Engineering Technologies Inc. in Lincoln. It took around two hours for Darin Heine, a Middle Men member, to paint the symbolic ribbons.
“We paint a lot of different surfaces, (but) grass is not one of them,†said Heine, who is a partner in a painting company. “As a team effort, we were able to pull it off pretty easily.â€
Heine said the Middle Men group has given him a sense of community, as well as a place full of support, not just with what he’s going through in life, but in his spiritual journey as well. The group typically sees around 15 to 30 members at its meetings.
Shield has had two close acquaintances in his life who’ve survived breast cancer, but says it’s a disease that affects every woman. The American Cancer Society says that there is a 1 in 8 chance a woman will develop breast cancer in her lifetime.
“The other seven, they’re getting screened every year, and every year, they wait for the results,†Shield said. “It’s a scary day, two days, three days, waiting for those results.â€
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He also added that everybody probably knows somebody who’s had breast cancer, making it a disease that affects everyone.
Heine never met his grandma, who passed away from breast cancer before he was born.
“It’s something that runs in our family,†Heine said. “So when the idea was brought up, it was definitely something I was more than willing to participate in.â€
The group wanted to do more than just painting the ribbons. They combined the idea from Kearney and have a table with markers and a bucket of pink flags for people to write names of survivors and those who have died of breast cancer. The signed flags are then placed in the ground in honor of the women throughout the whole month of October.
“The symbolism of being able to place a flag for someone you've lost is really, really cool as far as keeping that person alive through memory, and it’s something physical to show that,†Heine said.
Shield said the beauty is that they don’t know who the flags come from. He thinks a lot came from the public for the first two days because no one had gathered at the church yet.
The Middle Men are also raising money for the Heartland Cancer Foundation, which Shield said helps give back locally to those with cancer. He said the money helps people get gas cards to go to treatment, get hotel rooms and pay for medications.
“It’s really helping people in the community that are battling financial struggles going through cancer,†Shield said.
The group’s philanthropic efforts to help raise money for the cancer foundation were exciting to member Tyler Bell and have been very meaningful to his wife, Ashley Bell, as well. This summer, Ashley’s aunt had a double mastectomy. Her grandma also had breast cancer along with one of Tyler’s aunts.
“A group of guys that were willing to support that and just do what little we could to show the support there was pretty exciting to me,†Tyler said.
While a group of men isn’t typically the first thing that comes to mind during breast cancer awareness month, Tyler said they just want to show support for everyone impacted.
“We know that what they have to go through is far more than we could ever imagine,†Tyler said. “We’re here to help in whatever way possible and anybody that’s going through it, but maybe doesn’t feel comfortable bringing it up, at least they can drive down 84th if they’re having a rough day, see this, and have maybe a little bit better of a day and know there’s a group here at St. Mark's thinking about them.â€
Mammograms can lower chances of dying of breast cancer. A majority of people still don't get one regularly.
Mammograms can lower chances of dying of breast cancer. A majority of people still don't get one regularly.
Transportation availability and free time can hamstring screenings
St. Mark's United Methodist Church Middle Men's group poses for a photo next to a pink ribbon on the lawn outside the church in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month on Wednesday in Lincoln.
With his family looking on, Brooks Bell, 5, places a flag on a pink ribbon in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month on Wednesday at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in east Lincoln.