While cowboys competed in a tie-down roping competition, the admission from that and other events at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo was helping support the North Texas nonprofit, Careity, with the Stock Show Goes Pink.
"When you're in the Stock Show, we've stood there and watched people go down the aisle and they may have a scarf. We can see them immediately," Careity Co-founder Beverly Branch said. "They're here having joy in their life."
Careity, which helps cancer patients navigate and pay for cancer diagnostic tests and treatments, got 50% of the proceeds from Tuesday's FWSSR admission and events.
"Well, we're cowgirls, first of all," Branch said decked in head-to-toe western wear. "Our logo is basically 'Cowgirl Up' because it does take cowgirling up to get through this journey."
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That journey is battling cancer.
"It was very aggressive," cancer patient Donna Holland said. "I might not have been here today. Careity actually saved my life!"
Holland has a job and insurance but had not met her deductible. She said she couldn't afford the mammogram that diagnosed her stage 2 breast cancer.
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"Every day we hear heart-wrenching stories," Branch said. "There are people who still have insurance, but they have no money and they can't pay for that deductible."
"It's heart-wrenching because this world, being as it is, you don't always have that," Holland said.
Careity has been the beneficiary of Stock Show Goes Pink since 2020.
"Our mission is not to have an agenda, but to have a mission to take care of people at a grassroots level," Branch said. "We're here to help. We're here to help."
