Hundreds turned out Thursday for the fourth annual Kappa Alpha Psi Bar Hop For Breast Cancer Awareness.

The four-hour event, held at the Piedmont Town Center in the SouthPark area, typically raises about $1,000 to benefit the breast cancer awareness group Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

This year’s crowd appeared larger than ever.

“We average about 300 people each year,” said Harold Grier, a Kappa who helped organize the event.

Grier said the fraternity chose breast cancer awareness because of the heavy toll the disease takes on African American women.

“We want to show our support for the black women who have supported the black man for so many years,” he said.

In attendance Thursday night were two directors from the local chapter of Susan G. Komen – Lise Hinton and Dr. Yvette Bessent.

Bessent, an OBGYN who is married to Grier, said the five-year survival rate for African American women diagnosed with breast cancer is about 10 percent lower than the rate for their white counterparts.

She said the lower survival rates stems from a combination of genetics and poor access to prevention and early detection.

Hinson said about 75 percent of the money raised locally for Susan G. Komen stays in the nine-county Charlotte region.

In the local African American community, one of the group’s big initiatives is “Pink Sunday,” which began in 2010. On a designated Sunday in April, African American churches are invited to host activities spotlighting breast cancer.

Hinson said that although Pink Sunday was held only in Mecklenburg County this year, the organization will involve Gaston County churches in 2011 and will continue to add counties until back churches in the entire region are participating.

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CORRECTION: Seventy-five percent of all money raised locally for Susan G. Komen for the Cure stays in the nine-county Charlotte region. An earlie version of this story gave an incorrect figure.
 

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