By Breven Honda

In March of 2023, Dawn Pecoraro was diagnosed with breast cancer.

In the months following, Pecoraro met other breast cancer survivors giving her the strength to endure the treatment.

Within the next four months, she took those next steps to not only overcome it, but also uplift those with cancer and their families.

“I said, ‘Our community needs a support group, because there’s a lot of us,” Pecoraro said on Dec. 19. “I started with a Facebook page, and I think it was like July and as my treatment started and I was going through treatment, I was like, ‘It’d be really nice to do a community event to support cancer.’”

That brainstorming idea with her husband was the first piece to getting the ball rolling on the next steps.

By fall 2023, Pecoraro was able to get others involved in the idea of the community event. Pecoraro and her eventual eight-member committee planned the first March Against Cancer a few months later in the third month of 2024.

“So, we ended up with almost 30 volunteers to help us with the process the day of,” Pecoraro said. “That part was fantastic. It was so well received just from the get-go. We did it to benefit the Mesquite Cancer Health Society. So, all funds raised for that event went to them.”

During last year’s event, there were 150-200 people in attendance as $4,500 was raised.

Pecoraro said it was a great occasion because of how many people came together to support cancer victims and those impacted. 

“I did a little intro at the event, and I said, ‘How many people are affected by cancer?” she asked the participants last year. “Well, almost everybody there raised their hands. That’s what they were there for. Everybody can almost anybody can tell you a story about how cancer has affected them or someone they know or love.”

Not even before the first event could be completed, people asked Pecoraro and the committee if there was going to be another march. 

That encouragement has led to the group, the Warrior Women of Mesquite Nevada, to plan a second event.

The first thing on the planning list was identifying any improvements that could be made.

A few weeks after the first March Against Cancer, a couple committee members suggested making the Warrior Women of Mesquite Nevada a non-profit organization.

“We decided to start our own nonprofit because we kind of had a direction we wanted to go and our nonprofit kind of encompasses anyone affected by cancer,” Pecoraro said. “It affects us all.”

Last June, the group got incorporated before receiving the 501(c)3 exemption as a charitable organization in August.

Now, going into the second March Against Cancer in a couple months, Pecorino and the committee are ready to take the next step on anything they might have missed or can improve from last year.

“There’s not a ton that we would change,” Pecoraro said. “I think that we can kind of expand on it and tweak it a little bit.”

This year’s march is scheduled for March 15. Registration is $20 without a shirt and $30 with. The pre-registration deadline is Feb. 28. The event will take place at the Mesquite Recreation Center with check-in beginning from 8:30 a.m. – 9 a.m.

In addition to having the march taking place at the Mesquite Recreation Center, the group has also partnered with the City’s Parks and Recreation, who is handling the pre-registration process electronically.

The walk, which is a little more than a mile, is from 10 – 11 a.m. followed by a raffle with music and snacks. The event is a family-friendly event, making it open to kids and adults alike.

The Warrior Women of Mesquite Nevada is reaching out to local organizations to get involved whether it through being a sponsor or donating a raffle prize.

“Some of the people that were there (last year), like the Veteran Center, the Rotary, we had a table there, women’s history and culture,” Pecoraro said. “So, we are trying to embrace the community and other nonprofits.

“We went to (community restaurants) because we had some fundraising money, and I said, ‘We’d like to buy a $25 gift card with gift card. Would you match it?” Pecoraro said. “So, it wasn’t just, would you give us something? It’s like, ‘We want to support you. Will you support us?’ I think that was very well received, and the businesses, I think, really appreciated that.”

Pecoraro said the goal is to surpass last year’s number’s both in attendance and donations.

“We have a goal, like, last year we raised $4,500 so, obviously that would be like, hopefully we can beat that this year,” she said.