Taking the Fight to the Streets

Adrina Phipps has been a pillar of support for her friend Sarah, who has been battling ovarian cancer. Thankful for her good health, Adrina figured she would put it to good use to go the extra mile for Sarah. Adrina could have joined an existing fundraiser to help raise money to support Sarah’s treatment, which included obtaining her tumor profile through The Clearity Foundation. Instead, Adrina used her passion for cycling to bring together their friends and create their own fundraiser. They decided to take their fight to the streets and cycle for Sarah.

Being in the San Francisco Bay Area, a place where there are many opportunities to cycle, they decided to form a Clearity Foundation Cycling Team. Though Team Sarah itself is small in participants, they have an outstanding number of emotional and financial supporters dedicated to helping Sarah through her treatment and the team through their rides. On August 14th, they participated in the Tour D’Organics event in Sebastopol, CA. Adrina has said that with every peddle stroke, they thought of Sarah and the many women battling ovarian cancer. To keep themselves pumped up, Team Sarah repeated the mantra of “we CAN do better,” knowing their efforts support a foundation that will benefit many women. Their work indeed paid off, as they raised almost $13,000 by the end of the race. Every donation to the Clearity Foundation directly supports funding of molecular profiling for qualified women and maintenance of the Diane Barton Database to help inform patient decisions.

How did they manage to be so successful? Adrina shared a few tips that worked for Team Sarah:

• First, make it easy for people to donate. Their team used a free website called Razoo, which simplified the process of telling their story and distributing thank-you notes and videos after the event.
• Second, don’t be shy about sending out reminders. Adrina frequently sent emails with new video content and updates. These updates also included reminders of increased goals as the team continued to raise funds.
• Third, Sarah also promoted the team through her support system of family, friends and professional colleagues, sharing information about how the Clearity Foundation had helped her.
• Finally, Clearity provided the team with jerseys; offering gear is a great way to motivate people to join up with an athletic fundraising team.

Adrina and her team showed how with a little focused effort, supporters can gear their interests towards raising money for the cause. The best part? “It’s not every day that one gets to participate in an activity that one enjoys, but also raise money for a cause they believe in. All the hard work was worth it – we had fun, but most importantly, we helped support Sarah through this difficult time,” says Adrina. Clearity applauds Adrina for her and her team’s hard work, and we are fighting alongside Sarah for the best health through her cancer treatment.