The Shuswap Rotary Club is helping to paint the town pink with a recent donation to the Friends Abreast Dragon Boat team that raises awareness about breast cancer.

In a March 17 media release, Friends Abreast announced that Rotary community services director Caleb Espinoza had presented the group with a cheque for $2,000 to support their 2025 Dress the Town Pink Campaign. The inaugural event, held last October, was a great success that the team wants to expand on this year. 

Through this financial support, Friends Abreast will be able to invite as many local businesses as possible to participate in the campaign and plan to have "even more Pink Satin Ribbons available to be tied to the Salmon Arm Wharf in memory of a loved one touched by cancer."

Funds raised from those donations will again be donated to the Shuswap Hospital Foundation for mammography equipment. 

Friends Abreast, founded in 2002 and operating as the Shuswap Dragon Boat Society, has worked tirelessly to build the sport in the region, and $850 of the donated funds will support the team's participation in the Shuswap Dragon Boat Festival on June 14. 

Equally important as the sport, however, is the group's goal to raise breast cancer in the community, with team comprised of survivors and supporters of those battling the disease. The team is open to all women, regardless of age or physical abilities, with more information available online at .