The annual star-studded fundraiser for breast cancer research, Expedition Inspiration’s Take-A-Hike, will take place this Saturday at Paramount Ranch. Expedition Inspiration is a breast cancer research organization.
Honorary hosts of the event include celebrities Deborah Messing, Cindy Crawford, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Kathy Smith, Kim Raver, Richard Roundtree and Téa Leoni, who also serves as Take-A-Hike’s honorary chair. Out of the 28 noncelebrity volunteers running Take-A-Hike, 75 percent are breast cancer survivors. This year the event is expected to attract up to 3,000 participants.
Local philanthropist B.J. Dockweiler chairs the fundraiser, which is now in its eighth year. Dockweiler said she got involved in the breast cancer cause because “I am at high risk for breast cancer and my mother is a 35-year survivor. “
Dockweiler’s grandmother and aunt both died of breast cancer.
“I have two daughters,” Dockweiler said, “so my goal is to find a cure in my lifetime.” Téa Leoni shares Dockweiler’s dream. Her goal is to “find a cure in five years,” an objective that Dockweiler said both she and Leoni are “working fast and furiously to achieve.”
The United States Center for Disease Control has officially declared breast cancer an epidemic in America. The disease “affects one in every eight American women,” according to Expedition Inspiration. Breast cancer is the “leading cause of death for women ages 35 to 54,” and Expedition Inspiration also states that “every 11 minutes breast cancer claims the life of a mother, a daughter, a sister and a friend.”
In response to these statistics and the continued lack of a cure, in 1995, Laura Evans, a breast cancer survivor, climbed to the top of Mt. Aconcagua, the highest peak in the Western hemisphere, with mountain guide Peter Whitaker and a group of 17 breast cancer survivors. Evans’ climb raised awareness and more than $2 million in research funds for the disease and was “a tribute to the courage and determination of breast cancer survivors and the memories of the thousands of lives cut short by the disease,” states an Expedition Inspiration release. Evans, who died in October of 2000 of a brain tumor unconnected to her battles with breast cancer, co-founded and inspired Expedition Inspiration’s major annual fundraising event. In the past seven years, Take-A-Hike has raised more than $750,000 for breast cancer research and treatment facilities.
This year, the Los Angeles Take-A-Hike fundraiser will feature three hikes of three different difficulty levels, which participants pay a $55 fee to take part in. The participation fee includes goodie bags, a T-shirt, food, water and tribute flags to honor breast cancer sufferers. Additionally, hikers are encouraged, but not required, to raise at least $100 in sponsorship and pledge money from their friends and family. And nonhikers can participate in the form of donations, pledges or by bidding at the silent auction. Funds raised at Take-A-Hike support the USC/ Norris Lee Breast Center and the Expedition Inspiration Annual Breast Cancer Symposium.
Take-A-Hike is especially important for the breast cancer cause because it is “very spiritual, very healing, and very emotional. People come out and have a good time and we have teams that hike with friends and family,” Dockweiler said.
It also helps raise awareness about the cause and educate people in a “very supportive environment where people can come and learn. We have community booths so people can learn about breast
cancer and prevention and raise awareness about the disease,” Dockweiler continued.
She also adds that the event is just plain fun, with “a gospel group who is so amazing and people who just come and feel good about themselves and about the possibility of a cure.”
The Take-A-Hike event this year begins with on-site registration at 7:30 a.m., for last minute entrants. Opening ceremonies are at 8:30 a.m. and the hiking begins at 9 a.m. The entire event continues until 1 p.m. and children under 12 are admitted free throughout the day. Prizes are awarded to the best fundraisers and, as Expedition Inspiration touts, “the top fundraiser will win two round-trip airline tickets to anywhere in the continental United States.” For more information on the event and/or Expedition Inspiration’s year-round work, call the Expedition Inspiration office at 213.486.4558 or visit www.expeditioninspiration.org.