Color run, walk to raise awareness for cancer in Dickinson

Jason R. O'Day, The Dickinson Press, N.D.
·2 min read

Jul. 12—DICKINSON — For the second year in a row, the Project Hope Color Run and Walk will be held at 5 p.m. Tuesday, July 19, in Veterans Memorial Park. There is a $20 fee and registration begins at 4 p.m. Participants will be given a white shirt.

Project Hope, a program of the Bismarck Cancer Center, is an outreach effort to engage community businesses in raising awareness to prevailing cancers in the area. Education Outreach Coordinator Allexis Sandwick said that from July 18 to July 22, they'll highlight a different cancer and corresponding color each day.

Monday will be white for lung cancer, Tuesday pink for breast cancer, Wednesday navy blue for colorectal cancer, Thursday sky blue for prostate cancer and Friday will be lavender to recognize all stripes of cancer survivors.

"The walk is just an afternoon to promote awareness of the different cancers," Sandwick said. "That night we'll have a survivorship celebration, which is an ice cream social for people who are survivors of cancer and their caregivers. So there will be ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery."

Sandwick noted that last year's turnout for the event was low, and she hopes to see more people this time around. Despite that, Project Hope was still able to raise a substantial amount of money in 2021.

"Project Hope Week, combined with the Dickinson color run event last year, the Dickinson community was able to raise $14,000 for the Bismarck Cancer Center Foundation," Sandwick said. "This money raised for the foundation is used for support services that are offered to individuals affected by cancer such as gas cards, housing, massage therapy, physical therapy and more to support individuals during their cancer journey."

After the social, songwriter and musician

Greg Hager

will serenade audiences with his western flair from 7 to 9 p.m. during his concert at the Phil Patterson Memorial Bandshell — which is part of the Dickinson Summer Bandshell Concerts.

The most recent cancer

data

from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that in 2019, nearly 600,000 Americans died of cancer and approximately 1.75 million new cases were reported. Of those new cases, 3,904 were reported in North Dakota.

The Bismarck Cancer Center is among the most prominent treatment centers in the region. It was founded in 1999 as a joint operation between CHI St. Alexius and Sanford Health.