CAMP LESTER, OKINAWA, Japan -- Status of Forces Agreement personnel gathered for the Second Annual Breast Cancer Awareness 5-Kilometer. Run Oct. 1 aboard Camp Lester.
The event provided an opportunity for SOFA members to show solidarity and support for survivors of breast cancer by participating in the five-km. run.
The annual event supports a cause near and dear to service members and their families, according to Gregory Hammond, a health promotions director with Marine Corps Community Services Okinawa.
“Everybody came here with the same purpose,” said Hammond, an Augusta, Georgia, native. “Pretty much everyone here knows someone who has fought cancer or knows someone who is going through it currently. This is just another way for them to not only show support for the survivors in their own lives, but also survivors around the world.”
Before the walk began, MCCS health promotions specialists provided pamphlets and answered questions about available support programs and services available to families on Okinawa.
“Today is as much about education as it is about support,” said Hammond. “There are many support programs that people are aware of in the states, but out here, sometimes people don’t know what is available to them. We ensure family stationed overseas know that they are not alone.”
Participants of all ages lined up at the starting point, and many dressed in pink, the symbolic color for Breast Cancer Awareness month and volunteers cheered participants on as they walked, jogged and ran the course.
According to Seaman Kevin Nelson, a hospital corpsman assigned to the U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa, events such as the five-km. run are an amazing tool to bring members of the local military community together.
“Out here on Okinawa, it is especially important that we come together as a community because of the seclusion some SOFA members may be feeling,” said Nelson, a Reno, Nevada, native. “By remaining a tight-knit community out on Okinawa, we are also building a solid support system for anything any one of us might face.”
Though this is only the second Breast Cancer Awareness run, MCCS regularly hosts events throughout Okinawa in order to bring the community together.
“We have a lot of great events for service members and families out here and we will continue to encourage them to come out, have a great time and be an active part of the military community here,” said Hammond. “Though they may be far from home, we do everything we can to ensure families stationed overseas know that they are not alone and they have family here on Okinawa..”
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