Bras for a Cause: Donate Now for Breast Cancer Awareness

The third annual Bras Across the Crooked River event is well underwire, ahem, underway and the Celtic Club Fights Breast Cancer group is seeking donations of bras of any and every size to create breast cancer awareness. 

There are about 50 drop off sites, including one at . After the drive is over, the bras will be publicly displayed in October in several Northeast Ohio counties, said Jim Collver of the Celtic Club.

The donation drive for new and gently used bras began Aug. 1, but runs through the end of September. 

"After the displays the donated bras are given to battered women's shelters — the Domestic Violence Project (Stark County), the Battered Women's Shelter of Summit and Medina County and Safer Futures (Portage County)," said Collver.

The event is in memory of Charlotte Louise Ruckel, aunt of a Celtic Club member who passed away from breast cancer at the age of 28 in 1948.

The Displays

• Summit County: Oct. 6 on the new Bike and Hike pedestrian bridge over I-271 near Brandywine Falls in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Northfield Center Township.
• Portage County: Oct. 13 on the Cuyahoga River bridge in downtown Kent.
• Stark County: The third weekend in October, location TBA.

"I encourage everyone, including men, to go to the store and buy new bras that can then be donated to the cause," said Stow Mayor Sara Drew, who noted this was the first time city hall was participating in the drive. "We wanted to support the woman and their families in our community who have suffered through a diagnosis of breast cancer and celebrate the people who are survivors."

More than 3,700 bras have been collected in the last two years. 

Last year the Celtic Club received Letters of Congratulations for this event from United States Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), United States Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida)- a breast cancer survivor and Chairperson of the National Democratic Committee and the Common Pleas Judges of Summit County.

The Honorary Chairperson is Maria Byington — owner of the Arcadia Grille in Canton and a breast cancer survivor.

Additional information may be found on the Celtic Club Fights Breast Cancer Facebook page.

Donation Locations in Patch Towns

Cuyahoga Falls: 

• Planet Scott
• Rubber City Harley-Davidson

Stow:

Fairlawn:

Twinsburg:

• Mayor Katherine Procop's Office,

Kent:

• Kent State Student Center

North Canton: