Published: October 20, 2009 04:00 pm      

Wildcats to think pink at Friday night’s game

Godley Wildcats will be thinking pink Friday, and it has nothing to do with their gridiron opponent, arch-rival Rio Vista.

Students and townspeople will be wearing the fluorescent hue to celebrate “Wildcats for the Cure,” an October fundraiser during which the school hopes to raise at least $1,000 to donate to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer research.

Eight students, all members of Godley High’s Family Career and Community Leaders of America, participated last weekend in Dallas in the 5K walk portion of the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. That started the ball rolling into this week, according to FCCLA president Olivia Kemp.

“My family had always done the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure because my aunt had breast cancer,” Kemp said. “I thought it would be cool to do it as a school thing. At the end of last year, I talked to [sponsor] Mrs. [Sheryl] Winn about it and where the race was and what fundraisers we could do. We raised almost enough money to pay the entry fee in the walk for all 16 FCCLA members. It turned out only eight could go. The money that was left over, we donated to the Komen foundation.

“There were about 30,000 people there overall. It was pretty crazy but really cool to see all the breast cancer survivors. They had a big presentation honoring all the survivors. We did the walk instead of the run. All eight of us made it in under an hour. Mrs. Winn wants us to do the run next year.”

The event was educational and entertaining, Kemp said.

“There were a bunch of different booths to go to. We got to record a video explaining why we were there. We took a bunch of pictures. We got to answer questions about surviving breast cancer. Ladies were walking around asking different people questions like ‘What is the leading cause of breast cancer?’ ”

A number of adults and students put their heads together to firm up plans for this week’s “Wildcats for the Cure” festivities in Godley — including pink T-shirts and a gym full of pink balloons at the Friday morning pep rally.

Winn said he spoke to high school Principal Rich Dear one afternoon while they were doing parking lot duty.

“I mentioned to him that we were looking for ways to raise funds to participate in the Komen and to donate,” Winn said. “Mr. Dear was the one who had the idea of pink T-shirts. He did the design for the T-shirts. I came up with the ‘Wildcats for the Cure’ slogan.”

As of Monday, some 400 orders had been taken for shirts.

“A lot of people from the town have come to the school to order shirts,” Kemp said. “We’ll get the shirts Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday, we’ll sort them out and distribute them so everybody can wear them Friday at the pep rally and the game.”

The shirts are $10.

“We don’t make a profit,” Kemp said. “Everything goes to the Komen foundation.”

Godley cheerleaders under the sponsorship of Connie Brown also got involved.

“She planned all the pep rally events,” Winn said.

He said senior cheerleader Kasey Fairbrother, who is in one of his classes, talked to him about doing something.

“We’ve purchased pink paper to make a whole bunch of signs,” Fairbrother said. “We’ll have pink everywhere in the gym. We’ll try to get everyone to wear pink so the whole gym is filled with pink.”

“The reaction from the students has been excellent,” Winn said. “The volleyball coaches, Todd Weese and Casi Laws, have also been involved.”

Weather permitting, fans may be treated to a special surprise at the game.

First-year football coach Randy Brawner has put his seal of approval on a painted pink ribbon in the middle of the field.

Winn said art teacher Nancy Henry would do the stenciling.

All breast cancer survivors in attendance will be honored at halftime.

And for fans who forget to think pink, Winn said, “We’ll probably have pink ribbons for sale at the game.”