"I love to hear a choir. I love the humanity... to see the faces of real people devoting themselves to a piece of music. I like the teamwork. It makes me feel optimistic about the human race when I see them cooperating like that." ~ Paul McCartney Describe a time when you experienced cooperation and teamwork.

Working as a volunteer for the 4th annual Bunko for Breast Cancer event in Macon in February 2008 was an awesome experience. One of my co-workers has a cousin who founded the event after being the caretaker for her mother, who successfully beat breast cancer. The Bunko event is held to raise awareness about this disease as well as to raise funds for United in Pink, a local group devoted to increasing survivorship and strengthening families affected by a breast cancer diagnosis. Tickets to Bunko for Breast Cancer always sell out and each year it becomes bigger and better than the last.

Typically, monthly meetings to plan the event start in September the previous year. Besides planning the menu, choosing a caterer, a master of ceremonies, bartenders, and a band, table decorations are crafted and volunteers begin to "hit the streets" to solicit give-away products and services from local businesses. So many donations are needed for this event that it's mind-boggling. There are over 200 goody bags to assemble for every participant as well as prize bags for the biggest winners, biggest losers, and players having the most bunkos at each table. There are large numbers of high-end gifts needed for a silent auction and raffles, and bottles of wine are gathered for a wine raffle. I collected all kinds of donations from free pizza coupons to hair products to a free lawn service to a beautiful framed painting done by my daughter's art teacher, just to name a few.

On the day of the event, I left work early to help with set-up in a large banquet hall. In addition to setting up, I was part of the team who sold raffle tickets. The opening ceremony, during which a long stream of breast cancer survivors cross the stage and announce how many years they've been a survivor, brings tears to everyone's eyes. One of my co-workers did a little dance across the stage to thunderous applause as she announced she was a one-year survivor. It's clear that a positive attitude plays a big part in the ability to survive. Bunko is a dice game, but there's so much going on during the evening that the game is not always the focus! Believe me, a room full of over 200 women can get pretty wild and the noise level is astounding!

In 2008 we raised an amazing $42,000 from tickets sales, raffles, and the silent auction. Pink bra T-shirts designed by a local artist were also sold and were a big hit. In the three years since then, those profits have doubled. Our team of 30+ volunteers worked hard over many weeks to make the event a success and the sense of camaraderie blew me away. At the end of the evening, when the 200+ participants had all departed with their goody bags and prizes, the band played on and we pink-clad volunteers had our own little party and danced up a storm. I've been a participant since then, but haven't volunteered again. It's exhausting and time-consuming, but extremely gratifying at the same time. I will definitely do it again.