Need a gift basket for that special occasion or to say thanks to a customer or a prospective client? Jenny Conrad can help. Would you like to support a woman after she has undergone breast cancer surgery? Jenny can help there as well. In fact, she visualizes a day when every breast cancer patient in the Metroplex receives her The Ultimate Healing Kit free of charge.
The idea was born at a conference for women business owners two years ago when Conrad met Cherie Mathews, a double mastectomy breast cancer survivor and inventor of the Heal in Comfort post-surgical shirt.
"She told me her story about how hard it was to undergo a life-altering surgery - a mastectomy - and not have the proper tools to help her heal when she went home from the hospital," Conrad said. "She said she would like to some day put together a kit with all of the items you would need to heal at home." And that Conrad knows how to do.
"After putting the kits together, I realized this was not a product I wanted to sell," Conrad said. She wants to give them away. "I wanted to start a non-profit and raise the money to donate the kits to patients. After everything a breast cancer patient is put through, they just need something to help them heal in comfort and dignity." She is the president of the non-profit she put together, also called The Ultimate Healing Kit. It's personal because her mother is a cancer survivor.
The organization operates Revvin" for the Ribbon, which sponsors series of fund-raising events to support the effort. Next up is a motorcycle rally, Sept. 21, starting at five different Metroplex locations and ending at Quick Trip Park in Grand Prairie with food, vendor booths and live music featuring 360 South and LeFreak. The concert is free to the public. There's a $30 fee to ride in the rally. For information, visit the website, revvinfortheribbon.com.
Kits cost about $95 to assemble and include a variety of items. The kits were designed with the help of breast surgery patients, breast cancer survivors and doctors.
"There are a lot of programs out there for early detection, prevention and even finding a cure," Conrad said. "I want to focus the efforts of my organization on the patients."
