Yards of cash donated for "Buddy Bucks"

Yards of cash donated for "Buddy Bucks" 

POSTED 12/09/2008 - When Niki Mann, Cheerleading Coordinator for Callahan Pop Warner Football, saw Jeannie Blaylock, co-anchor of the First Coast News discussing "Buddy Check 12" and "Buddy Bucks" she decided to help.

MAKING THE CHAIN: (L-R) Holly Hengerer, Tiney Mite Cheer Sponsor; Amanda Mangold, Cheer Team Mom Coordinator; Michelle Etheridge, Volunteer Aunt from Tiney MiteCheer; and Niki Mann, Callahan Athletic Association Cheerleading Coordinator put the money chain together.

Buddy Check 12, Jeannie Blaylock's program, encourages women to help check each other for breast cancer each month. She started the program with her mother several years ago. Holder of 16 Emmy awards, she is the only person in Jacksonville to win a Peabody, a prestigious award earned by members of the electronic media.

"Buddy Bucks" involves creating a money chain to help find a cure for breast cancer $1 at a time. Niki's goal was to get enough one dollar bills to encircle the Pop Warner football field near Callahan's Intermediate School.

She, her cheerleaders, and everyone else she could get to help, started the project on September 29. The chain (bills pinned together with safety pins) was completed following the Pop Warner Football game on Saturday, October 4.

An accurate length couldn't be determined at the event because they were unable to get enough one dollar bills. Considering that a dollar bill is 6.14 inches long, the total ($904) would have stretched for more than 150 yards. When the money chain didn't encircle the field, fans and

STRETCHING THE CHAIN: Carol O'Quinn, Callahan Intermediate School fifth grade teacher (lady wearing the black top), and her daughter Kelly (to her left) are among the many participants supporting the chain.

players held hands to complete the circle.

 The Callahan Athletic Association will donate the chain proceeds to the Susan G. Komen Foundation in support the first Mammogram Hotline on the First Coast in honor of Carol O'Quinn, a fifth grade teacher at Callahan's Intermediate School. Carol has just finished her last treatment for breast cancer. Niki will present the actual chain to Jeannie at a time and place to be determined.

Other donations included $105 for special balloons, launched either "in memory of" or "in honor of" breast cancer victims. This money will also be donated to the Donna Foundation.

A number of teddy bears were also donated to support Chemotherapy patients on the First Coast. This was part of the Buddy Bear project.

LET 'EM FLY: Fans release the balloons "in memory of" and "in honor of" loved ones affected by breast cancer. Niki Mann is on the far right and Carol O'Quinn is second from the right.

Niki plans to make this an annual event.