Tuesday, July 3

It's All About Spreading Some Knowledge.

By Press Release

Boarding for Breast Cancer Foundation (BBC), a non-profit, youth-focused organization to educate and raise awareness about breast cancer and the importance of early detection, has teamed up with Modart and their "Keep A-Breast" campaign on the Vans Warped Tour 2001. With a combo booth that provides an eclectic visual and educational opportunity to spread awareness and educate young people about the importance of early detection, the BBC Foundation will reach more than 700,000 people in 40 cities across North America as part of this traveling circus of musicians, action sports athletes, and "tent-cities" filled with cool activities and raffles.

On display at the BBC/Modart booth are colorful plaster-Paris breast molds painted by various action sports and urban cultural artists, jelly breasts with fibrous lumps for hands-on self breast exam clinics, cool educational material about the importance of early detection, plus T-shirts, buttons, stickers, and raffles-all part of a North American BBC Foundation membership drive.

Thanks to generous donations by Sims Snowboards, Airwalk, the Snowboard Connection, Billabong, Smith, Hurley, Volcom, A.D.D. Marketing, K2 Snowboards, Outback Mountain Boards, Nixon Watches, Entertainment Arts, Cosmic Debris, Adidas, Blackmarket, Workhorse, and Paul Frank, daily raffles at each venue will raise funds for the BBC Foundation and promote membership opportunities for on-going support. Funds go directly to educational campaigns, including snowboarding, skateboarding, and surfing events to raise awareness about the importance of early detection among youth.

Grand prize BBC Vans Warped Tour Raffles include a signed board by pro rider and BBC co-founder, Tina Basich, a K2 Luna board, and a trip to the 7th annual Snowboard + Music Festival in April, 2001 at Sierra-at-Tahoe, CA. (Grand Prize entries, memberships, and donations can also be made online at www.b4bc.org).

"The Vans Warped Tour is the best vehicle to reach young people about the importance of starting self-breast exams even as early as 15," says BBC Director, Kathleen Gasperini. "It's not an older woman's disease any longer because more young women under the age of 35 are getting this disease. Ask yourself, how many people do you know have been affected by this disease in some way? It's everyone-girls, guys, families-it's an epidemic. But young women don't often know they're at risk and the medical community does a poor job of getting the word out that the best prevention is early detection. This booth helps get the message out with very hands-on, youth-oriented ideas. It's rad, artistic, and educational."

The Keep A-Breast concept was the brainchild of Mona Mukherjea-Gehrig and Shaney Jo Darden as a Modart project in 2000 to help raise awareness and funds for the BBC Foundation. Modart, an artistic organization that promotes action sports athletes and urban art cultures, molded women from various backgrounds including breast cancer survivors with plaster-Paris. More than 100 molds were made and then sent off to trend-setting action sports and urban artists, including Lance Mountain, Jamie Lynn, Futura, Stash and Shepard Fairey, who painted them in a wide range of artistic expressions. The molds were first displayed in exhibitions in New York City, San Francisco, and at the annual BBC Snowboard + Music Festival in Tahoe in 2000-2001. They were also auctioned online at Modart.com and raised more than $8,000 for the BBC Foundation.

Modart's Keep A-Breast campaign helped the BBC Foundation reach a new level of consciousness among artists, celebrities, and musicians. They will continue their Keep A-Breast movement through 4 more exhibitions in 2001-2001, plus an online auction starting this winter, and at the annual BBC Snowboard + Music Festival in April, 2002. Modart's "Camp Modart" was on Warped Tour '99, which displayed art and fashion in an unbiased collaboration of different genres of kids, art, and fashion.

The Boarding for Breast Cancer Foundation (www.b4bc.org) was formed 6 years ago by Lisa Hudson, Kathleen Gasperini, Monica Steward, Tina Basich, and Shannon Dunn. Monica, who was a prominent figure in the snowboarding industry, was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 26 and died at 29-just 3 months before the first annual event. The BBC Foundation began as an annual Snowboard + Music Fundraising Festival, inspired by Monica, with pro rider competitions and internationally acclaimed bands who preformed live, including the Beastie Boys, Foo Fighters, Blink 182, Primus, Moby, Luscious Jackson, Less Than Jake, Spearhead, and others. The organization has grown from an annual festival to also hosting 8 local "Board-a-thons" across the country to raise money for local breast cancer organizations (contact the BBC to start your own). The BBC Foundation continues to expand into other board sports such as skateboarding and surfing, including an upcoming surf event at the Rob Machado Cardiff Beach Surf Classic September 8-9, international festivals, and various art exhibitions. The BBC Foundation has raised more than $1 million dollars for breast cancer organizations targeting young women's breast cancer research, artistic awareness programs, and youth breast cancer support programs. Members of the BBC Foundation receive an online and offline newsletter about leading-edge research, upcoming info about BBC events, local Board-a-thon activities, plus a sticker, pin, and one of several cool BBC-logo T-shirts. (To become a member, go to: www.b4bc.org.)

Come check out the BBC/Modart "Keep A-Breast" booth live, on-site, and hang out or share your story with Shaney Jo Darden and Erica Lee Holder, our entertaining and educational booth-mistresses, and support a cause that can make a difference in all of our lives.

For more information regarding the Boarding for Breast Cancer Foundation, including membership, call (877) 814-B4BC and go to www.b4bc.org. For more information about Modart and getting involved call (760) 967- 0821 and go to www.modart.com. To check out where the BBC/Modart booth is at on the Vans Warped Tour, go to www.warpedtour.com.