The Residence Halls Association will host its fourth annual Paint it Pink Week to benefit the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center on Oct. 19 to 23.
Paint it Pink Week is an RHA tradition in October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The main goal of the event is to spread information about breast cancer as well as raise money to fund research.
“(Paint it Pink Week) raises awareness for breast cancer, which affects several hundred people on campus; teachers, students, parents,” RHA Programming Committee chair Emily Aiken said. “It’s just good to bring awareness and to get people involved and active against breast cancer.”
RHA kicked off the month by sponsoring the sixth annual Passionately P!nked Out photo Oct. 12 at Tiger Plaza, an event which was also co-sponsored by the Mizzou Black Men’s Initiative and Zeta Tau Alpha. The event educated students and showed support for victims of breast cancer.
“Paint it Pink Week was put in October to bring awareness more toward our campus, and to have different events to promote how to donate, but also how to spread awareness,” RHA Vice President Rachel Thomas said. “For example, at the P!nked Out photo, Zeta Tau Alpha was handing out these flyers for self-check exams for all of the women that attended the event. That kind of awareness, we think, is really important.”
RHA will host an event each day during Paint it Pink Week. Some of the events might be familiar for those who participated in Paint it Pink Week in previous years, such as the meal with Campus Dining Services and the Lip Syncing Bee.
The CDS meal was held Oct. 19 during lunch times in Dobbs, Rollins and Plaza dining halls. The menu includes pasta with pink sauce, raspberry frozen yogurt and pink cupcakes.
The Lip Syncing Bee will be 7 p.m. Oct. 22 in Bengal Lair, and will feature prizes for the top three performers and free Buffalo Wild Wings. RHA is expecting a large turnout for this particular event, Aiken said.
“I really feel like (the Lip Synching Bee) is going to be the best event,” Programming Coordinator Alexis Ditaway said. “Just seeing everyone get out of their comfort zone and express themselves more is going to be great.”
Other events include Pinterest Craft Night at 6 p.m. Oct. 20 in the Craft Studio inside Memorial Union. At this event, students can socialize while crafting with pink materials. This event had a large turnout last year, Aiken said.
RHA will also be showing the film “Mean Girls” on the ground floor of Pershing Hall on Oct. 21.
“Mean Girls is the theme again this year,” Aiken said. “The Mean Girls theme is because of the famous line, ‘On Wednesdays, we wear pink,’ so it’s just endorsing more pink.”
In addition to all of these events, RHA members will be handing out free cotton candy and pink lemonade Oct. 23 in Speakers Circle. They will also be handing out free Paint it Pink Week shirts, but RHA asks that people donate $5 for Ellis Fischel.
Paint it Pink Week is one of the largest events hosted by RHA over the course of the academic year, and planning the event brings a sense of pride for RHA members who are able to take part.
“Last year I was a representative on the Advocacy Committee,” Thomas said. “The Programming Committee heads (Paint it Pink Week), so I wasn’t able to participate (last year) as much as I did this year. Now that I’m on the executive board, I get to work with our programming coordinator and our director of communications on it more extensively. It’s pretty cool, I think this year it’ll be just as fun, if not more informative.”
