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Paint the Town Pink’ 5K color fun run set for Saturday

Posted on October 3, 2017

'Paint the Town Pink' 5K color fun run set for Saturday

Janice McIntyre
City Editor

Contributed photos

Hundreds run: Large crowds have participated in the #teamcorriecancerfoundation 5/K fun run/walk in El Dorado, held to raise funds to benefit citizens of Union County suffering with cancer. This year’s fifth color run will begin at 8 a.m. Saturday at the intersection of Jefferson and Elm streets in downtown El Dorado.

Contributed photos

Sisters fight cancer: Sisters, Kristi Gross Lowery, left, and the late Corrie Gross Bechtelheimer, donned pink boxing robes in their fight against cancer. Their mother, Sandy Gross, said this photo was taken after Lowery finished her breast cancer treatments and Bechtelheimer was just starting her treatments.

The fifth Paint the Town Pink 5K color fun run/walk, to raise funds for the #teamcorriecancerfoundation, in memory of the late Corrie Gross Bechtelheimer, will begin at 8 a.m. Saturday at the intersection of Elm and Jefferson streets in downtown El Dorado.

Corrie Jo Gross Bechtelheimer was an “incredible wife, mother, daughter, granddaughter, sister, aunt and friend. Corrie lived a rich, full life. She had a wonderful childhood as part of a great family. She married her high school sweetheart and love of her life, Trey, and they had two beautiful children, Sloane and Rob. She traveled to places many people only dream of visiting. She loved her job as a speech-language pathologist and touched the lives of countless adults and children in our community,” her mother, Sandy Gross, and her sister, Kristi Lowery, wrote on the #teamcorrie website.

“During her courageous two-year battle, she received a tremendous amount of support from our community. Before she lost her fight with cancer on June 6, 2014, she had expressed and shown many times that she wanted to help other cancer warriors with the expenses they faced while fighting their battles. We hope to be able to fulfill her dream and honor her memory by providing some financial help to others fighting cancer in our area,” Gross and Lowery wrote.

“Even with insurance, cancer is costly. Cancer warriors and their families can be devastated physically, emotionally, mentally and financially. People living with cancer are faced with life and death decisions when it comes to being able to afford their medication, treatments and day-today expenses that have now become emergencies. #teamcorrie Cancer Foundation, a nonprofit organization, has been established by family and friends of Corrie Gross Bechtelheimer in an effort to help relieve some of the financial burden that forces cancer patients to choose between life-saving treatment and life’s basic necessities,” family members said.

The foundation provides one-time grants to cancer patients residing in Union County to assist with medical expenses incurred by their cancer treatment.

All proceeds from the color run go to #teamcorrie Cancer Foundation. “We give $1,000 grants to Union County cancer patients to help with their medical expenses not paid by insurance. We have given 63 grants since April 2015,” Gross said. “Paint the Town Pink is our biggest fundraiser” and the grants are “only possible with our community’s support.”

“You can help us to continue the fight in Corrie’s memory through participating or making a donation,” Gross said.

Paint the Town Pink entry forms are available at Almost Blonde, Melvin’s Pharmacy and Poppy’s Pizza and on the #teamcorrie website at www.teamcorriecancerfoundation.org. Grant applications can also be found on the website.

Entry fees are $15 for children ages 0-12 and $35 for ages 13 and over. Color powders used during the run/walk are “all natural and safe.”

Officers of the #teamcorriecancerfoundation are Gross, president; Lowery, vice-president; Jenifer McLelland, secretary; Terry Allen, treasurer and John Gross, parliamentarian. Members of the board include Heather Gilmore, Dr. Donya Watson, Debbie Stinson and Joan Tribble

.