WSU’s Global Connections will hold a virtual bingo event on Thursday with the purpose of spreading breast cancer awareness.

Andria Donnenwerth, Global Campus  student involvement manager, said the event will start at 4:30 p.m.and is expected to last about an hour.

Donnenwerth said the bingo events are presented by the Global Campus and have taken place since 2020. Usually,  they try to include important topics in the bingo events.

“So I thought, ‘you know what, October’s coming up and it’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month,” she said. “This year I really wanted to bring attention to something bigger and I thought breast cancer would be a good topic.”

Those who are interested can register online and receive all the relevant information as well as the link they need to join and a bingo card, Donnenwerth said.

“We’re also saying pink is the color of breast cancer awareness, so if our attendees wear pink they get swag just for wearing pink, so that’s fun,” Donnenwerth said.

Donnenwerth said the bingo events are ideal for spreading awareness because students are more engaged when participating in these events than just listening to information over Zoom.

“I really care about being involved and being engaged,” Donnenwerth said. “If you’re engaged, you’re listening to the facts. I’m hoping to really paint that picture.”

The bingo events are usually held online because the Global Campus’s programming is intended to reach students/alumni across WSU’s campuses and the nation, Donnenwerth said.

“We get people from Ohio, Texas and Pullman,” Donnenwerth said. “It’s really nice to see where everyone is coming from and remembering we’re all one Coug nation.”

The bingo events usually last for about four games and attract about 30 people, Donnenwerth said. To help with the event, she reached out to both the WSU Women*s Center and WSU Wellbeing Online.

“I was like, ‘well I’m not an expert on breast cancer, I need to reach out to someone who will be able to share these facts and information,’ so I reached out to our partners at WSU Online Wellbeing,” she said.

In addition, Donnenwerth said Karen Phoenix, professor in the Roots of Contemporary Issues Program, is a breast cancer survivor who will be speaking at the event and will share her experience and facts about the disease.

Throughout the event, Donnenwerth will ask the guests questions related to their information about breast cancer while playing bingo, she said.

Amy Sharp, director of the Women*s Center, said she first heard about the event in either August or September when it was mentioned to her by Donnenwerth

“They brought the idea to me and I said, ‘yeah whatever we can do to help,’” Sharp said. “It was very much they took it and ran with it, which is great. I love that kind of cooperation.”

Sharp said she was interested because Breast Cancer Awareness Month is a big event for the Women*s Center.

The main ways the Women*s Center will be helping with the event will be to spread the word about it and to offer prizes for the winners, she said.

“We’ve got a really cool mug, a travel mug that is in there,” Sharp said. “Just little treats here and well. Some face masks, some other things that we just kind of have here in the center.”

Sharp said the winners will most likely receive their prizes via mail after the event. If this bingo game goes well, the Women*s Center may partner with them in the future.

A few ways that you can prevent breast cancer include reducing alcohol consumption, regular physical activity and maintaining a healthy weight. Further information on breast cancer awareness can be found here.