Parker County Today November 2018 | Page 10

Ericha Schmidt won the “Benevolent Bachelorette Of The Year” Award 8 knows about the struggles people with cancer go through, giving a listening ear to her clients who have either struggled with cancer them- selves or had a family member who has battled the disease. “When they get in my chair, they talk and I listen. When they tell me about their burdens and they don’t know where to turn, I’m excited to tell them about the Careity Foundation and all that they have to offer. No one can afford cancer. Cancer doesn’t care what your bank account or your 401(k) looks like. It’s out to drain you physically and financially. I’m proud to say that the Careity Foundation is there to provide mammograms, diagnostics and biop- sies. The staff includes social work- ers, cancer navigators and more.” she said. As for the two Careity founders, Beverly Branch and Lyn Walsh, they are over the moon that their bache- lorette and friend, with Careity’s help, was able to help them raise so much money and were pleased that Careity earned the title, Charity of the Year. “Just think how many lives that we can save with this. Thank you Carol. You were awesome. I’m exhausted but we love you dearly,” Walsh said.  Walsh said that she’s happy to have won the competition during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but that Careity is much more than awareness.  “It’s incredible because breast cancer awareness is there, but it doesn’t touch the patients that we touch. We actually touch patients and save lives. Awareness is good, but it’s not good unless we help and save lives,” she said. The concept behind Sweet Charity & Bachelorettes took root in 2011 when Parker County Today publisher Marsha Brown and Art Director Steven Schillio were inspired to launch the Bachelorette fundraising event after having dinner with Walsh and Branch a few days following a Careity fundraising event. “They were both exhausted,” Brown said. “We were worried about their health, that’s how tired they both were. They talked about how cutting back on what they did wasn’t really an option because the popula- tion of their coverage area is growing and cancer, in general is on the rise. They also said that most of the other local charities were in the same boat that they were. We asked, ‘How can we help.’ Lyn said, ‘you could put on an event for us.’ An event was born to help Careity and to help four other excellent charities as well.” The first Continued on page 16