our beauTEAful volunteers

On Saturday, May 29th Rethink Breast Cancer hosted the second annual tea in honour of the remarkable volunteers who provide peer support to young women with breast cancer. Our team of skilled volunteers includes 18 young women in their 20s, 30s and 40s, who have experienced breast cancer and who have chosen to use their experience to support other young women who are going through it. This year the tea took place in the elegant Fireplace Room at the Windsor Arms Hotel in downtown Toronto.

The tea was a time out from busy lives in a world apart. It was an opportunity for our community to renew friendships, welcome newcomers and remember absent friends, while we sipped tea from delicate china cups and nibbled on delicious goodies. There was laughter and there were some tears. We celebrated events of the past year – graduations, weddings and the long-awaited adoption of Lily, a beautiful baby girl, the newest member of our extended family, who joined us for the first time. And we paid tribute to Steluta, an old friend who sadly passed away in March.

Afternoon tea is an elegant Victorian tradition developed by a woman for women to enjoy. It is said that Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford, introduced the custom in England in 1840, to ease the hunger she experienced between the mid-day meal and a late night supper. The Duchess’s idea took off and during the Victorian era women would dress up and get-together in the afternoon to break bread and share experiences. An afternoon tea seems like the perfect feminine way to recognize this extraordinary group of young women, who choose to share their unique wisdom and compassion with peers.

Noni Regan
Coordinator, Peer Support for Young Women with Breast Cancer