The local Casting for Recovery program, which offers free fly fishing retreats in West Glacier for women diagnosed with breast cancer, is holding its second annual fundraiser this week in Whitefish.
The event will feature 11 short fly fishing films along with a raffle on Friday, April 27 at the O’Shaughnessy Center. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and beer and wine will be available, as well as light appetizers.
The films are part of the Fly Fishing Film Tour, which features a range of independent movies — from one man’s journey to the “dry fly capital of the world” in Craig, Montana to a group of friends’ adventure into Alaska to fish a legendary stretch of water.
All proceeds from the night will benefit breast cancer survivors enrolled in the Casting for Recovery retreat scheduled for September.
Last fall, 14 women from across western Montana who were battling or have battled cancer came together for the first-ever two-and-a-half day retreat in this part of the state. Casting for Recovery was established in 1996 as a national nonprofit supporting women recovering from breast cancer by using the sport of fly fishing as a facilitator for counseling and support.
“Breast cancer is a private battle for each woman who has been diagnosed but this program is a small way to let them know they’re not alone and we’re cheering them on,” local program coordinator Heidi Sue Puryer said.
There are currently 84 annual retreats across the country, including one in eastern Montana.
Puryer said the community has been very supportive of the new program, from volunteers turning in countless hours for the retreat and fundraising efforts to local businesses doling out sponsorships and donating items for the raffle.
“We live in a great community,” she said. “We’ve been blessed.”
According to breastcancer.org, roughly one in eight women in the U.S. will develop invasive breast cancer in their lifetime. In 2011, there were more than 2.6 million survivors in the country, according to the same data.
Puryer said 19 women have already applied for the West Glacier retreat. Applications will be accepted through the middle of July and can be found on the program’s website, www.castingforrecovery.org.
Missoula’s Peg Simon attended the first local retreat last fall exactly a year and two days after undergoing breast cancer surgery.
“One of the values of this program is meeting people who have survived and have said ‘I don’t know if I can do this journey,’ but they find out they can and they share with others the way they have survived,” Simon, 68, said before casting her first fly into the Middle Fork Flathead River along with 13 of her surviving sisters.