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Prostate Cancer Bracelets

Stuck on band aid

Must-have awareness bracelets gain popularity, causes

Several times a day, another customer at Dan Moorehead's flower shop in Mequon notices the light blue plastic band around his wrist and the question comes again.

"Where did you get that bracelet?"

The same question is being asked all around the Milwaukee area lately, as schoolchildren, corporate executives and people in the giving mood clamor to be a part of the latest fashion-for-fund- raising trend.

Awareness bracelets -- thick, colored rubber bands representing various charities -- are on heavy display and in high demand in school cafeterias and business offices, and at department stores.

The fad is feeding off the success of the Lance Armstrong Foundation's yellow "Live Strong" bands. More than 26 million of the $1 yellow bracelets have been sold since May.

Similarly styled bracelets are surfacing in a rainbow of colors.

Moorehead, owner of Moorehead & Rhodes Florist, wears his light blue bracelet in memory of his partner, David Rhodes, who died two years ago of skin cancer. There are light pink wristbands to benefit the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, royal blue ones to encourage bone marrow donations, red ones with clasps for HIV/ AIDS research.

Milwaukee Wave blue bracelets will be sold in January to give poor children an opportunity to attend a soccer game. And Power of Pink bracelets have been offered at Boston Store counters to benefit breast cancer research at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

"We were inspired by the Lance Armstrong Live Strong bracelet and thought, what a great idea it would be" to start a similar effort, said Kelly Grant, special events coordinator for Boston Store.

Clearly, the public agrees.

Since October, Boston Store has sold more than 5,000 of its light pink bands in Milwaukee and Racine counties. The company ran out of its supply for the winter and plans to restock for another campaign in the spring, Grant said.

At Knight Barry Title Group in Racine, company leaders were pleasantly surprised when the 500 pink breast cancer awareness bracelets they planned to offer employees throughout October were gone in three days. To date, they've distributed 1,250 bracelets, including a sample bracelet ripped off a display by one desperate employee, said Craig Haskins, Knight Barry Title vice president.

"It's like we set up a Popsicle stand and everybody wanted a Popsicle," Haskins said.

The latest accessory

The bracelets are popular with kids, too. At Robinwood Elementary School in Franklin, sixth-grader Katelyn Heimburgh attracted much attention this week when she showed up wearing three awareness bracelets on her wrist -- two pinks for breast cancer and the yellow for Armstrong's prostate cancer cause.

"In the whole sixth grade, I'd say about 50 of 75 of us wear them," said Katelyn, who noted that most of her classmates had only two bracelets.

So what is it about these stretchy symbols that make them as appropriate on ladies' pearled wrists at fancy luncheons as they are on the high school soccer field?

Some say the bracelets are a palpable way to contribute to good causes, without hassle of pledges, commitments or tax deduction forms.

"It's an easy way to feel like you're helping people in need," said Kristen Thistle, spokeswoman for the National Marrow Donor Program, based in Minneapolis.

Eleven-year-old Katelyn said the bracelets' trendiness doesn't hurt, either.

Awareness bracelets have become standard equipment in celebrity circles. Melissa Etheridge has her own pink breast cancer awareness band. Other stars, including Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jay Leno and Brad Pitt, have been seen wearing the Live Strong band.

At Katelyn's school, some students like to shoot the bracelets down empty hallways like rubber bands.

"They're just wearing them to be cool," she said.

Which leads one to wonder what would have happened if awareness was as hip a few decades ago as it is today.

Nelson Santos, assistant director of Visual AIDS in New York City, is part of the organization that came up with the idea for the AIDS awareness red ribbon -- arguably the first concerted effort to get people to wear their causes in public.

Back in 1988, Santos said, when the non-profit came up with the pinned red ribbons, organizers never even considered copyrighting the idea or collecting money for the symbols.

"That was a very different time than it is now," Santos said.

Celebrities who have been seen wearing awareness bracelets include:

Ben Affleck

Lance Armstrong

Matt Damon

Melissa Etheridge

Jay Leno

Brad Pitt

Credit:JACK ORTON

Source:JORTON@JOURNALSENTINEL.COM

Dan Moorehead, owner of Moorehead & Rhodes Florist in Mequon, wears a blue wrist bracelet in honor of his life partner, David Rhodes, who died two years ago of skin cancer.

Credit:JACK ORTON

Source:JORTON@JOURNALSENTINEL.COM

Bracelets inspired by the yellow Lance Armstrong bracelets (center) are becoming very popular. Target sells a pink bracelet (top) that benefits breast cancer research. The "Life is a Team Sport" wristbands (bottom) raise money for a marrow donor program founded by Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick.

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