More Brooklynites than ever strapped on their sneakers and donned pink for Making Strides in Brooklyn on Oct. 16, when the American Cancer Society celebrated its final breast-cancer walk in Prospect Park before the charity event heads south to Coney Island.
Brooklyn’s pink-clad walkers tipped the scales at 50,000 participants this year, dwarfing last year’s figure of 40,000, according to Making Strides Community Manager in Brooklyn.
“Next year we’ll be opening our 15th year in Coney Island, and that’s a big reason why there was a jump in numbers,” said Christina Hall. “We made sure people knew it was going to be the last time in this community.”
The event featured pro-bono performers and speakers following the charity walk through the Nethermead, along with an area dubbed “Survivor’s Village,” where women who had fought the disease and won were entitled to all sorts of freebees, according to Hall.
“It’s where survivors can congregate to get goodies and feel the love that day,” she said.
The American Cancer Society is still working to tally the funds raised from the walk in Brooklyn, and money keeps pouring in from donors and post-walk events, but organizers expect that Brooklyn alone will have been responsible for raising some $2 million this year, compared to the $1.2 million in 2015.
Making Strides makes an appearance in all five boroughs, and last year raised $5.27 million from events across the city.
The yearly charity walk helps fund breast cancer research, in addition to providing women suffering from the disease with much-needed services and treatments.
The event is heading to Coney Island in 2017 in order to represent Southern Brooklyn communities. Walkers will head east along Surf Avenue towards Brighton Beach, before heading back along the Boardwalk towards Luna Park, Hall said.
For those who couldn’t make it out for the walk on Sunday, but want to contribute to the cause, donations can be made at makin
