COMMUNITY

FAMILY MAKES IT’S 6,000th PILLOW
FOR BREAST CANCER PATIENTS

About a dozen members of the Marken family meets at JD Carpets Inc. on announced Fridays to sew and stuff pillows for breast cancer patients.  Recently we accomplished a goal of creating 2,500 11 X 11 inch square pillows for patients to place under their arms to ease discomfort following lumpectomy or mastectomy surgery.

In June 2006 Colleen Bowers of Perry Hall and her Aunt Libby Ritte began this project.  They quickly reached out to the other cousins and relatives in the Baltimore area.  The group met at the home of “Aunt Libby” until her death in December of 2008.  Now the group meets at JD Carpets, Inc. owned by cousins John Marken and Kimberly Lentz. Most of the women in the group are first cousins.  After a pot luck lunch the group gets busy cutting cloth, stuffing fill material, gluing, clamping, then stuffing a big plastic bag full of the finished pillows that are delivered to the American Cancer Society office in White Marsh.  The pillows are sent with information on breast cancer treatment to women who have been diagnosed with Breast Cancer.  Inside every package is usually a pillow made by the Marken family.  According to the American Breast Cancer Society, about 182,460 women in the United States were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in 2008.  Over 40,000 women will die from the disease this year.

Participating cousins include Colleen Bowers, Gloria Pestridge, Jennifer Stankiewicz, Glenda Roberts, Linda Spetzler, Linda Bartek, Debbie Bowers, Geraldine Marken, Anne Heather Marken, Stephanie Canatella, and Kimberly Lentz.

We invite you to call and join our efforts.  All materials are donated and everyone is welcome.

JD Carpets, Inc.
8124 Pulaski Highway
Rosedale, MD  21237
410-665-2800

Serving the Community: Building a United family.